St Paul's II

"This is the great masterpiece of Sir Christopher Wren, who rebuilt the City's churches after the Great Fire of 1666. Completed in 1708, it was England's first purpose-built Protestant cathedral, and has many similarities with St Peter's in Rome, notably in its enormously ornate dome. It has the largest swinging bell in Europe, Great Paul, which strikes every day at 1pm. The hour bell, Great Tom, strikes the hour and marks the death of royalty and senior churchmen. The cathedral has a reputation for music, and draws its choristers from St Paul's Cathedral School.

The dome is 111m high and weighs 65,000 tonnes.

The first known church dedicated to St Paul was built on this site in AD 604. Made of wood, it burned down in 675 and a subsequent church was destroyed by Viking invaders in 962. The third church was built in stone. Following another fire in 1087, it was rebuilt under the Normans as a much larger cathedral, with stone walls and a wooden roof. This was completed in 1300. In 1666 Christopher Wren's plans to restore the building had just been accepted when the Great Fire of London burnt the old cathedral to the ground."