St. Paul’s Cathedral – A visitor’s guide
St. Paul’s Cathedral is a London absolute MUST-SEE. It’s a landmark in the city, is incredibly beautiful, and is an architectural masterpiece.
There has been some sort of a church on the site since late Roman times. A previous church had been built in the Norman times (circa 1100-1200 AD) and it was one of the largest churches in Europe. Unfortunately, the Great Fire of London in 1666 massively damaged the wooden church building, and the decision was made to replace it completely.
The current St. Paul’s cathedral rose from the ashes. The famed architect Sir Christopher Wren designed the building, and it became his masterpiece. He is buried in the building and his tomb reads (in Latin):
Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you.
The cathedral is open for services, but at all other times charges admission. I highly recommend a visit. The main floor is simply magnificent. It is truly used as a church, and does not have the clutter of memorials and tombs that are on the main floor of Westminster Abbey.
The Crypt is also fascinating. The tomb of honor is reserved for Lord Admiral Nelson; it lies directly beneath the center of the building’s dome in an incredible crypt. A number of very famous Britains are buried there, including The Duke of Wellington, Florence Nightingale, John Donne, and more.
For those of you willing to walk some stairs, there are even more delights available!
99 feet above the main floor is the Whispering Gallery. If you whisper to the wall at any point, you can be heard at any other point along the wall. In reality, so many people are trying to do it at the same time that you can’t hear a thing, but perhaps if you’re there at a quieter time it will work for you! From the height, you can take fantastic photographs of the interior of the dome and the main floor of the church.
173 feet above the main floor is the Stone Gallery. This is a walkway on the outside of the building around the main dome. It is an excellent vantage point for photographs of the city of London. The walkway is broad, and it is easy to take your time and enjoy the sights.
280 feet above the main floor is the Golden Gallery. Going up here is really only for the more brave among you. From the main floor to the Stone Gallery is a series of reasonably straightforward staircases. However, from the Stone Gallery upward is a much more complicated procedure. As seen on the diagram above, you are actually accessing the space in between the exterior dome and the internal dome. These include some rather small spaces, and a lot of stairs! But once you get to the top, the views are incredible. Look at the photo below to see people in the Golden Gallery, and compare that to some of the other photos of St. Paul’s!
You can take fantastic photographs from this level. It’s a little strange at first… it’s only a few steps and you’ll have walked around the entire level! My wife and I really enjoyed the trip up to the top, but remember that you have to walk 280 feet up to get there! (That’s 530 steps… they’ve counted.)
Note on renovation:
St. Paul’s cathedral has been undergoing a massive renovation project over the last number of years. (I had lived in London for nearly two years before I actually saw the front of the cathdral… it had spent that time behind scaffolding being restored.) The restoration programme is nearly completed, and the building is beautiful! However, for the next few months there still may be a few places with scaffolding and/or closed off. These should now be few and far between.
Summary:
I highly recommend a visit to St. Paul’s; it’s one of London’s best sites for anyone interested in history, architecture, religion, photography, and more. If you’re in the city for more than just a few hours, I would certainly advise you to go.
Tickets: Adults- £9.50, Children- £3.50
Buy tickets online here.
Days/Times: Monday through Saturday, 8am – 4pm (3:30pm for the Galleries)
Tours: 90-120 minute guided tour of main floor and Crypt put on four times daily for £3
Audiotours available for £3.50
Map:
View Larger Map
Photos from Flickr, diagram from St. Paul’s website. 1 2 3 4 5 6
8 Comments
Jed,
I agree. So much more impressive then Westminster Abbey to my eye, this is the one really worth visiting! I went as a child and have been back a few times since – it’s always worth another look.
Hi, Geoff!
While I do love the exterior or Westminster Abbey for the amount of detailing (and the cloisters), St. Paul’s is really the more magnificent church. After hiking all the way to the top I really felt like I got my workout done for the day!
Absolutely beautiful. I hope to see it in person one day.
I loved St Paul’s Cathedral and went to the very top on a windy/rainy (typical winter) day. It was a little scary at times, but well worth the hike!
Hi, Bellie. Yes, the climb can seem a bit harrowing getting up to the very top, but I’m glad you found it worthwhile.
Matt, when you do see it in person I’m sure you’ll really enjoy it!
Good call. This is a stunning “don’t miss” location in London. I understand the story of how it survived the blitz is just as amazing. Didn’t most of the surrounding neighborhood burn, leaving St. Pauls virtually untouched? And didn’t Churchill designate it as a locations that couldn’t be allowed to get destroyed?
Hi, Jon. St. Paul’s certainly wasn’t untouched… they got lucky in that one of the bombs that could have destroyed it didn’t go off. There was a huge volunteer fire brigade at St. Paul’s that was constantly on watch to save the church, and they were clearly successful. The photos from the war with St. Paul’s standing and the rest of the area destroyed certainly helped public resolve in a very difficult time.
I don’t think it was ever anything that was off-limits, though I understand that some places like St. Paul’s were actually useful to the enemy as landmarks from which they could find their real targets. The “off-limits” that I had heard about were the cities such as Oxford and Cambridge, that came through the war okay…
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