St Paul's Cathedral

Why go

Concurrent with designing St Paul's, Wren was engaged in the production of his five Tracts on Architecture. Many distinguished musicians have been organists, choir masters and choristers at St Paul's Cathedral, including the composers John Redford, Thomas Morley, John Blow, Jeremiah Clarke and John Stainer, while well known performers have included Alfred Deller, John Shirley-Quirk and Anthony Way as well as the conductors Charles Groves and Paul Hillier and the poet Walter de la Mare.

What to look for

• Structural engineering Wren's challenge was to construct a large cathedral on the relatively weak clay soil of London.
• Depictions of St Paul's St Paul's Cathedral has been depicted many times in paintings, prints and drawings.
• St Paul's Cathedral is a working church with hourly prayer and daily services.

The full story

, London, is an Anglican cathedral, the seat of the Bishop of London and the mother church of the Diocese of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. The present church, dating from the late 17th century, was designed in the English Baroque style by Sir Christopher Wren. Its construction, completed in Wren's lifetime, was part of a major rebuilding programme in the City after the Great Fire of London. The cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognisable sights of London. Its dome, framed by the spires of Wren's City churches, dominated the skyline for 300 years. At 365 feet high, it was the tallest building in London from 1710 to 1967.

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