St Paul's Cathedral

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St Paul's Cathedral is a large domed church on Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London. The building you can see today was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in the English Baroque style and finished in 1710. Its dome is 111 metres high.

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At a glance

Country: United Kingdom
Location: London, UK
Built: 1710
Height: 111 m
Type: Religious building

Quick answers

Where is St Paul's Cathedral?

St Paul's Cathedral is in London, UK, United Kingdom.

When was St Paul's Cathedral built?

St Paul's Cathedral was built in 1710.

How tall is St Paul's Cathedral?

St Paul's Cathedral is about 111 m tall.

Christopher Wren’s Baroque cathedral, built after the Great Fire, whose dome has crowned London for three centuries.

The cathedral was built after the Great Fire of London of 1666 destroyed the older Gothic cathedral. For over 300 years its dome has been a famous part of London's skyline, and it was the city's tallest building from 1710 to 1963. St Paul's is the second-largest church building in the UK, after Liverpool Cathedral, and it is still a working church.

Wren's masterpiece

The first St Paul's on this site was founded in AD 604. Old St Paul's had lost its spire to lightning in 1561 and was wrecked by the Great Fire. Sir Christopher Wren was officially given the job of designing a replacement on 30 July 1669. He also took charge of rebuilding the churches lost in the fire, and more than 50 City churches are credited to him. Their spires surround the dome. Wren had to build a huge cathedral on weak London clay, so he put a crypt, the largest in Europe, under the whole building to help carry the weight.

The double dome

Wren wanted a landmark dome tall enough to replace the old tower, yet also pleasing to look at from inside. Like St Peter's in Rome, he made it a double shell, but he separated the inner and outer domes by much more than had been done before. Outside, a ring of columns, a stone balcony called the Stone Gallery, and a lantern on top give the dome its light, layered look.

Great occasions and the Blitz

Many big moments in British life have been marked here, including the funerals of Admiral Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, and the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. During the Blitz in World War II the cathedral was struck by bombs on 10 October 1940 and 17 April 1941; the second blast shifted the whole dome slightly. A famous photograph shows the dome rising out of the smoke. A time-delayed bomb that hit in September 1940 was defused by a team of Royal Engineers and would have destroyed the cathedral if it had gone off.

Fun facts

A whisper against the wall of its Whispering Gallery can be heard on the far side of the dome.
It was the tallest building in London from 1710 to 1963.
St Paul's has the largest crypt in Europe.
More than 50 City churches are credited to Wren.
The first St Paul's on the site was founded in AD 604.