Thank you, Macaulay Family Foundation. 😌🙏 It's always inspiring to hear about brilliant minds like Wren's. It helps me imagine what I'm capable of doing. I wonder how Wren's London would look today, but this cathedral is stunning. I'm glad he got to do this much.
My Grandfather - F.HANWELL - worked at Brown Baileys in Sheffield and he and his forge team made replacement iron chains that hold the dome together when it went through a renovation/repair phase (c. 1920's). The chain links were massive and took the team some considerable time to make. (Time 6:46)
Shame you didn't close with the famous photo of St Paul's surrounded by fire in the Blitz of 1940 in WW2. St Paul's has greatly improved since it was cleaned up. 300 years being surrounded by buildings burning coal fires, and decades of filthy motor traffic left not only the outside but also the inside seriously damaged by smog. A small section by the West Door has been left uncleaned just to show the HUGE difference.
I believe Wren initially designed the dome to be covered in copper, but it was going to be too expensive so it ended up being clad in lead, adding many ton to the weight. Hence the requirement for several iron bands to hold it all together.
It is a masterpiece of compromise most people would have a nervous breakdown just looking at the endless problems wren went through to get it built. I am sure if he was able to build his original design it would have been one of the architectural wonders of the world though even after going through years of planning with everyone having an opinion including the king and the leaders of the church before you even start to look at the cost of building it we are left with a dome weighing 65000 tones that from underneath floats above you like it is supported by the air around it. To me it is more a monument to one mans perseverance he really was great.
I love Wrens smaller churches but I have always felt that there is something inelegant about Saint Paul's, maybe something to do with the design compromise you mentioned. It has some nice elements but lacks a unity of design. the dome is too big, or maybe just a little too tall. Thanks for the video.
Couldn’t agree more. The enormous dome centered over a spartanly designed asymmetrical basilica plan looks awkward. A Greek cross design with four grand entrances would have been spectacular. St. Peter’s shelved the Bramante design for a basilica, and so did St. Paul’s.
Could you guys make a video about the St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter in New Orleans?? It's so beautiful and I would love to hear more about it.
at 2.11 into the vid the slide is a sketch? showing a riverside cliff/buff? Is this a real sketch form the time or an imagined view please?? If real who is the artist - it's great!!
All the images shown in the video are listed in order of appearance at the end of every Smarthistory video (except the very earliest ones we made before about 2010).
@Smarthistory - great video style. 3:11 ... what's the { ☿ } symbol signifying on the map? And could you include sources/references for the images you've used?
What a pity that this magnificent architecture is buried in the disorganized mass of ugly buildings characteristic of a modern city! It should have been surrounded by a wide space where nothing was allowed to be built.
Most Smarthistory videos, including this one, use a creative common license that allows them to be used by teachers and students without explicit permission. Please go ahead, we hope it's helpful.
God bless us I want to travel around the world together my family, friends and relatives. In God all things are possible po. From Lani D. Nepomuceno, Philippines
why did they choose to let it look like St Peter in Rome? the architecture of St. Pauls is VERY much inspired by the italian style, why didnt they make it look more english? It looks like an italian church and not like an english one.
Great story, but I just don't get the swinging from one narrator to another, it doesn't sound convincing, nor does it sound anything other than reading a script.. sorry.
No need to be sorry. There was no script. This is literally spontaneous unscripted conversation that took place at the cathedral that was later edited down. Many people like to hear from two people but you are free to have a different opinion.
