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St Paul’s Cathedral symbolises the spirit of the British people.

It was built as a phoenix rising from the ashes of the Great Fire of London, expressing the city’s indomitable defiance, and it retained that role throughout the Second World War.

The cathedral is the creative vision of Sir Christopher Wren. He saw it through from the first designs in 1666 right up to the finishing touches more than 40 years later in 1708.

The clergy thought Wren’s domed designs were too much like a Catholic church, so he erected scaffolding around the whole structure and didn’t let any of them see its construction.

Wren had travelled to Rome to see how Michelangelo created the dome of St Peter’s, and what was finally revealed was the second largest dome in Europe.  

Wren saw St. Paul’s as his lasting memorial and carved 'If you seek his monument look around you' in Latin around the dome.