18 September 2013 ~ St. Paul's Cathedral

Listening to: The Allman Brothers Band ~ Ain't Wasting Time No More

My first glimpse of the Cathedral from London Square.

For more than one thousand four hundred years, a cathedral dedicated to St Paul has stood at the highest point in the City of London.

The present Cathedral is at least the fourth to have stood on the site. It was built between 1675 and 1710, after its predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, and services began in 1697.

 

This was the first cathedral to be built after the English Reformation in the sixteenth-century, when Henry VIII removed the Church of England from the jurisdiction of the Pope and the Crown took control of the life of the church.

 

The west front of St Paul's is dominated by a triangular relief depicting the conversion of the cathedral's patron saint to Christianity. Above it stands the figure of St Paul himself, flanked by other apostles and the four evangelists.

 

The two western towers are topped with a pineapple - a symbol of peace, prosperity and hospitality. Near the top of the south-west tower is a clock, which was installed in 1893 and has three faces, each more than 5 meters in diameter. 

 

Above the clock hang Great Tom, the hour bell, and Great Paul, the largest swinging bell in Europe.

 

A close up of the other tower and pineapple topping.



The statue of Queen Anne that stands in front of St Paul's. Anne was the reigning monarch at the time of the cathedral's completion. 

The figures on the base represent England, Ireland, France and North America, all of which Queen Anne laid claim to. This is the American Native American Indian figure.

I visited on a Sunday so the tour was not allowed inside.