London Sights Day 2: St. Paul's Cathedral

Before St. Paul's Cathedral originally a church was built in 604. The church was reconstructed several times mainly because of fires and damaging. The whole church was destroyed in 1666 during The Great Fire of London. After this the government decided to build a whole new cathedral instead.

The first design of the cathedral by Sir Christopher Wren was turned down as it was too radical. The second design was also turned down. The third design in 1673 got permission and they started building the cathedral in 1675. They finished building the cathedral in 1710. During the 2nd world war it was the main target of the bombing. The building was hit on October 9 in 1940, but the damage was remained limited.

A lot of famous people are buried inside of the cathedral. Samuel Johnson and Florence Nightingale have a statue. St Paul’s was the location of prince Charles and princess Diana’s wedding. Which was unusual, because the Britisch Royal Family usually marries in Westminster Abbey.

The dome of the Cathedral has a height of 108 meters. The dome has three galleries; the Whispering Gallery, the Stone Gallery and the Golden Gallery.