St Paul's Cathedral
Words are rather inadequate to describe the beauty and splendour of St Pauls. Unfortunately they don't allow photography so if you haven't been then you will simply have to go and find out for yourself. I don't have my history book on me currently so I will edit this post later and add in all the details on it.
The current version, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, is spectacular. It is a building where one is constantly looking upwards. You can climb up to the famous Whispering Gallery - a rather claustrophobic experience as you can never see more than a meter or two in front of you and the spiralling staircase seems to go forever. Once there you can see the detailed inlay work on the floor but, more importantly, you can also theincredibly gorgeous and detailed painted murals on the domed ceiling. You can also glimpse that the roof of the next dome above you is also painted in similarly splendid detail. Back on the ground floor you can see the detail that has gone into the ceilings. It must have been incredibly freeing to be able to ignore the sumptuary laws and finally have something to dress in as much luxurious, brilliant, sparkling, richly coloured detail as possible. There are galleries for the musicians to sit and quotes from Psalms referring to the instruments that should be played in praise; there are angels in rich mosiacs; there is a side chapel with images of our Lord and the votive candles always lit. There's a beautiful sort of chapel at the end for fallen American soldiers and carious memorials and statues around the place for the varied (but normally wealthy) dead. You can go down into the crypts and see the memorial/crpty there for Lord Nelson. He has a room all to himself and still manages to fill it with an imposing presence. Despite so long dead he is obviously still fondly remembered as there was a fresh posey of flowers, wrapped in tinfoil, that someone had recently left there for him. There is also a memorial for Sir Christopher Wren. It is simple and unadorned compared with others. The plaque, written by his son, when translated from the Latin ends with 'Visitor, if you seek his monument, look around you.'
The current version, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, is spectacular. It is a building where one is constantly looking upwards. You can climb up to the famous Whispering Gallery - a rather claustrophobic experience as you can never see more than a meter or two in front of you and the spiralling staircase seems to go forever. Once there you can see the detailed inlay work on the floor but, more importantly, you can also theincredibly gorgeous and detailed painted murals on the domed ceiling. You can also glimpse that the roof of the next dome above you is also painted in similarly splendid detail. Back on the ground floor you can see the detail that has gone into the ceilings. It must have been incredibly freeing to be able to ignore the sumptuary laws and finally have something to dress in as much luxurious, brilliant, sparkling, richly coloured detail as possible. There are galleries for the musicians to sit and quotes from Psalms referring to the instruments that should be played in praise; there are angels in rich mosiacs; there is a side chapel with images of our Lord and the votive candles always lit. There's a beautiful sort of chapel at the end for fallen American soldiers and carious memorials and statues around the place for the varied (but normally wealthy) dead. You can go down into the crypts and see the memorial/crpty there for Lord Nelson. He has a room all to himself and still manages to fill it with an imposing presence. Despite so long dead he is obviously still fondly remembered as there was a fresh posey of flowers, wrapped in tinfoil, that someone had recently left there for him. There is also a memorial for Sir Christopher Wren. It is simple and unadorned compared with others. The plaque, written by his son, when translated from the Latin ends with 'Visitor, if you seek his monument, look around you.'
posted by Nixie! at 3:18 am
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