St Paul’s London -Rasiq Mohamed Uzair,ANRVSA

St Paul’s London

St Paul’s

• The Cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognizable sights of LONDON, with its dome, framed by the spires of Wren's City Churches, dominating the skyline for 300 years. At 365 feet (111 m) high, it was the tallest building in LONDON from 1710 to 1962, and its dome is also among the highest in the world. In terms of area, St Paul's is the second largest church building in the UNITED KINGDOM after LIVERPOOL Cathedral.

Architect

Sir Christopher Wren was the Architect Who Rebuilt London.

After the Great Fire of London, Sir Christopher Wren designed new churches and supervised the reconstruction of some of London's most important buildings.

• Born: October 20, 1632 at East Knoyle in Wiltshire, England• Died:

February 25, 1723 in London, at age 91.

• The St. Paul is constructed in BAROQUE STYLE.• A style of architecture and art originating in ITALY in the early 17th

century and variously prevalent in EUROPE and the New World for a century and a half, characterized by free and sculptural use of the classical orders and ornament, by forms in elevation and plan suggesting movement, and by dramatic effect in which architecture, painting, sculpture, and the decorative arts often worked to combined effect.

Old St Paul’s Cathedral

Length 555ft (160m)Nave width 121ft (37m)Width across transepts 246ft (75m)

Details

Architectural features

• Saint Paul's in the form of an ancient basilica, a type of building used by the Romans for judicial purposes before it was adopted by early Christians as a church.

• St Paul's is long for its width, and has strongly projecting transepts. It has much emphasis on its facade, which has been designed to define rather than conceal the form of the building behind it.

• The basilica design really shows up inside. Saint Paul's is deliberately shaped like a cross. The nave is progressed through the nave, which is the main gathering area for worshipers.

• There are side aisles set off by arches on each side of the nave.

• little chapels on each side too.• The transept of the cathedral, the part that

stretches out like the arms of a cross. There are semi-circular entrances at the tip of each arm of transept.

The WHISPERING GALLERY runs around the inside of the dome 99 feet (30.2 m) above the cathedral floor. It is reached by 259 steps from ground level. It gets its name because of the acoustic effects peculiar to domes; a whisper against its wall at any point is audible to a listener with an ear held to the wall at any other point around the gallery. A low murmur is equally audible.

In section St Paul's also maintains a medieval form, having the aisles much lower than the nave, and a

defined clearstory.

SpecificationsHeight 365ft

(111m)Dome height (outer) 278ft

(85m)Dome height (inner) 225ft

(68m)Dome diameter (outer) 112ft

(34m)Dome diameter (inner) 102ft

(31m)

The most notable exterior feature is the dome, which rises 365 feet (111 m) to the cross at its summit and dominates views of

the City. The height of 365 feet is explained by Wren's interest in astronomy. Until the late 20th century St Paul's was the tallest

building on the City skyline.

Structural Features

Buttress given for extra strength for screen walls.

Deep recesses in the walls for windows.

Thick walls are provided internally.

The large crossing dome is composed of three layers: the first triple dome ever to be constructed. The inner and outer layers are catenary curves, but the structural integrity to support the heavy stone structure atop the dome is provided by a intermediary layer which is much steeper and more conical in shape. The dome is restrained round its base by a wrought iron chain to prevent it spreading and cracking.

The Dome• Wren favoured a continuous colonnade (peristyle) around the drum of the dome, rather

than the arrangement of alternating windows and projecting columns. The finished structure, Wren creates a diversity and appearance of strength by placing niches between the columns in every fourth opening.The peristyle serves to buttress both the inner dome and the brick cone which rises internally to support the lantern.

• Above the peristyle rises the second stage surrounded by a balustraded balcony called the "Stone Gallery". This attic stage is ornamented with alternating pilasters and rectangular windows which are set just below the cornice, creating a sense of lightness. Above this attic rises the dome, covered with lead, and ribbed in accordance with the spacing of the pilasters. It is pierced by eight light wells just below the lantern, but these are barely visible. They allow light to penetrate through openings in the brick cone, which illuminates the interior apex of this shell, partly visible from within the cathedral through the ocular opening of the lower dome.

• The lantern, like the visible masonry of the dome, rises in stages. The most unusual characteristic of this structure is that it is of square plan, rather than circular or octagonal. The tallest stage takes the form of a tempietto with four columned porticos facing the cardinal points. Its lowest level is surrounded by the "Golden Gallery" and its upper level supports a small dome from which rises a cross on a golden ball. The total weight of the lantern is about 850 tons.

Structural Features

Vault

The Interior

• The nave is 91 feet (28 m) in height and is separated from the aisles by an arcade of piers with attached Corinthian pilasters rising to an entablature.

• The bays, and therefore the vault compartments, are rectangular, but Wren has ingeniously roofed these spaces with saucer-shaped domes and surrounded the clearstorey windows with lunettes.(an arched aperture or window, especially one in a domed ceiling)

• The vaults of the choir have been lavishly decorated with mosaics. The dome and the apse of the choir are all approached through wide arches with coffered vaults which contrast with the smooth surface of the domes and punctuate the division between the main spaces.

• The transept extend to the north and south of the dome and are called (in this instance) the North Choir and the South Choir.

• Details of the towers at the west end (illustration, left) and their dark voids are boldly scaled, in order to read well from the street below and from a distance, for the towers have always stood out in the urban skyline. They are composed of two complementary elements, a central cylinder rising through the tiers in a series of stacked drums, and paired CORINTHIAN COLUMNS at the corners, with BUTTRESSES above them, which serve to unify the drum shape with the square block plinth containing the clock.

The Towers

Number of towers 2 Tower height 221ft (67m)

• The base of the inner dome is 173 feet (53.4 m) above the floor. Its top is about 65 m above the floor, making this the greatest height of the enclosed space. The cathedral is some 574 feet (175 m) in length (including the portico of the Great West Door), of which 223 feet (68 m) is the nave and 167 feet (51 m) is the choir. The width of the nave is 121 feet (37 m) and across the transepts is 246 feet (75 m). The cathedral is thus slightly shorter but somewhat wider than Old St Paul's.

Corinthian columns

The cathedral is built of Portland Stone in a late Renaissance Style (English Baroque), something similar to the style of St. Peter's Basilica or Mansart church of the Val. de Grâce, which the architect Wren had visited.

>  Portland Stone

St. Peter's Basilica, Mansart Church Val. de Grâce, and St. Paul's cathedral

• The clock mechanism was built in 1893 by Smith of Derby incorporating a design of escapement. clock mechanism is 5.8 meters long and is the most recent of the clocks introduced to ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL over the centuries.

Different views of the Cathedral

Western view

Western Facade

The towers stand outside the width of the aisles, but screen two chapels located immediately behind them. The lower parts of the towers continue the theme of the outer walls, but are differentiated from them in order to create an appearance of strength. The windows of the lower storey are smaller than those of the side walls and are deeply recessed, a visual indication of the thickness of the wall. The paired pilasters at each corner project boldly.

Southern View

Southern Facade

Eastern View

Helicopter View

View from the Dome