Sunday, August 12, 2012

St. Paul's Cathedral

I remember seeing a picture of St. Paul's in elementary school and thinking, "Hey, they copied our state capitol building!" (meaning the one in Washington DC). Good thing no one burst my bubble that St. Paul's is actually the original. To me the dome stills seems a little odd that it's on a church, since it's so similar to many state capitol building in the US. It's a pretty amazing church though. 

Can't beat the view from the top. 528 steps. 

The masterpiece of Sir Christopher Wren. It's been an anchor to the London skyline since 1700. I love visiting buildings like this because they truly are monumental in modern times, but then to remember that the are hundreds of years old. Some of the great stories we heard of the history when we visited included the fact that during air raids of World War II a bomb actually broke through the ceiling and landed on the cathedral floor, but they were able to deactivate it before detonation. The blast would have destroyed the entire building. This church has meant a lot to a lot of people over the years. 

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