A site of prayer and transformative reflection, St. Paul's Cathedral has long since been a mix of old and new within the English community. Magnificent and beautiful, the openly airy quality of the cathedral likely derives from the iconic dome shapes throughout. An ambient hum filled the cathedral enveloping my senses. Community between strangers receiving communion at 12:30; it's difficult to imagine that the original structure of the cathedral was rebuilt not once, not twice, but four times to achieve the towering monument to Christ we see today.
In the year 604 (a damn long time ago), Christian missionaries founded the cathedral. However, it looked nothing like the present structure. Following the cathedrals final collapse during The Great Fire of London in 1666, architectural mastermind, Christoper Wren began work on reconstructing the cathedral. Thankfully so, he decided that it was a wise decision to build this church not out of wood, as it had been previously, but out of limestone that gives the church an airy sense of light. Thus, he created the only English cathedral in baroque style and the only one with a dome.
The fascinating paintings within the dome depict life of St. Paul, intending to draw the eye upwards and towards the heavens. Rather than focusing on making the dome as tall as the church had been previously, Wren was focused on his own inspiration, making the building 365 feet tall in his measurements of the time period; one foot for each day of the year. This was a church very conscious of not decorating in a way that was "too Catholic" since they are of Protestant affiliation.
This easily became my favorite cathedral we have visited thus far. Possibly due to it's spacious, glowing walls of mosaic and limestone. Or maybe being able to witness the intimate communion between the cathedral and passing faces seeking solace within the church. A homely structure while still maintaining beauty and style, unmatched by others in England representative of the Gothic style.
Before walking out, I allowed the hum of the building to envelope every empty space around me. I wondered, did this same hum always surround the church, even before the rebuild? Perhaps not, but if so, is that what drew people of the time to choose this place of worship. They were of different religious affiliations but it's curious to imagine whether people could find an appreciation for each cathedral like we do today, all under one God, regardless of differences.
