Went on a wonderful tour of St. Paul's Cathedrals. As always, I like the memorial sculptures the best. Saw some wonderful things.
These stairs were used in one of the Harry Potter films
During WWII St Paul's was hit many times for fire bombs. People patrolled the roof top and put out the bombs many times. If not for them the cathedral may not have survived.
The baptismal font is referred to as the bird bath. It's not terribly practical as the only way to drain it, is to scoop it out
Out wonderful guide
The Duke of Wellington's memorial
The dome. There are actually three domes sandwiched together. The beautiful one you see from the inside is not structurally able to support the burden of the roof. The middle of the dome is not so pretty but structurally sound. But, it's not tall enough to give the right look outside. So the third dome is tall.
The organ pipes
The mosiacs were added during Victorian times. The ceiling became so dirty from all the coal smoke and other pollution in the city. There was no way to effectively clean the ceiling so the mosiacs were added to cover up the dirt.
The lights in the crypt
Christopher Wren designed St Paul's as well as many other beautiful buildings in London. Rather than a huge monument for him, this plaque is above a black slab covering his grave that says 'If you seek his monument, look around you'
Florence Nightengale's monument
The great war hero's monument. It was originally just the bottom section which is really just a marble rectangle. To make it more impressive, the top portion was found in storage and added. Cardinal Wolsey, Henry VIII's advisor, had this made for himself. But when he fell into disgrace and was executed for failing to get the King his divorce to marry Anne Boleyn it was put into storage and forgotten about for many years.
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