Site search | St Paul's Cathedral

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Become a Friend

For a small annual fee, you can join the Friends of St Paul’s, and benefit from free visits, discounts at our shop and priority access to events and services.

Map of the East India Company in South Asia

The East India Company and the monuments at St Paul's

Learn about how the Cathedral’s monuments relate to the East India Company’s history and activities on the Indian subcontinent.

Members of the St Paul's Watch during the Second World War

The St Paul's Watch

Explore the history of the St Paul's Watch and their activities during the Second World War.

Monument to Charles Cornwallis

Charles Cornwallis,1st Marquess Cornwallis (1738-1805)

Learn about the monument to Charles Cornwallis,1st Marquess Cornwallis, and the East India Company with this piece written by Fawzia Mahmood.

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Book sightseeing tickets

We have a number of sightseeing tickets available, with discounts for children, students, seniors over 65, and families.

grindling gibbons carvings jonathan working

Recreating the Quire carvings

Understand how the Quire has evolved over the past 300 years and how those changes have created conservation considerations today.

Monument to John Jervis

John Jervis

Learn about the monument to John Jervis (1735-1833).

2.1.1 Great Model - Lead Image - Ref 8851

1. Designs for the Great Model, 1673

Wren’s unrealised Great Model, now in the Cathedral’s Trophy Room, took about ten months to design and more than a year afterwards to build and decorate.

guide welcome visitors group nave entrance

Our guided and self-guided tours

Get to know the fascinating figures in our history – and the story of how the Cathedral was built – with our guided and self-guided tours.

Fig. 5. The Bishop's Throne at the east end of the south range of stalls. Carved by Grinling Gibbons, 1696–9

Sources and abbreviations

A bibliography for the Wren Office Drawings online collection.

Monument to Ralph Abercromby

Sir Ralph Abercromby of Tullibody

Learn about the monument to Sir Ralph Abercromby of Tullibody (1734-1801).

Christopher Chapman is a white man with short grey hair wearing a pair grey casual shirt and sitting in front of a bookcase, cupboard and fireplace.

Ripening: reflections for a changing season

Christopher Chapman reflects on signs of God in the changing season.

Carris, a white woman with auburn hair and glasses, stands in the cathedral, the lights of the nave and the decorative ceiling blurred in the background behind her.

Music for Good Friday and Easter

Singer Carris Jones writes about music that illuminates the mystery and meanings of Good Friday and Easter.

Fig. 7. St Paul’s Cathedral. South elevation and half-plan as built, showing the main phases of construction from 1675 to 1688 (Richard Lea and Gordon Higgott)

2. The Design in the First Phase, 1675-85

After the rejection of the Great Model in the latter part of 1674, Wren prepared several designs for a new Cathedral on a cruciform plan.

Fig. 1. ‘The Revised design’: South elevation, drawn by Hawksmoor, c.1686 (© All Souls College, Oxford, G.81)

3. Upper elevations and west end, c. 1685

The dramatic increase in funding from 1686 was the main factor behind a major revision to the design that can be dated from mid-1685.

2.9.1 WRE_6_1_5 (D143)_Lead image

6. The western towers, c. 1685-1710

Wren had always intended a belfry in one of the towers at the west end of the Cathedral.

Fig. 3. Study by Hawksmoor in half-elevation, section and plan, for a mausoleum-like rotunda on the west side of the piazza, c.1696–97 (WRE/7/1/3)

7. Churchyard and paving and miscellaneous drawings, c. 1690-1713

The earliest known scheme to improve the Cathedral churchyard is an outline study by Wren and Hawksmoor, drawn over a survey of the whole precinct prepared by William Dickinson.

Richard is a white man with short grey hair and black rimmed glasses. He wears a clerical collar and black shirt under a casual light jacket and stands holding onto the wooden railing of a boat or a jetty on a lake. The shoreline in the distance has trees, and some buildings, and there are mountains in the distant background. The sky is pale blue with some clouds and the sun is shining on Richard.

Advent Reflections from Jerusalem

Richard Sewell, Dean of St George's College in Jerusalem, reflects on Advent in the Holy Land.

the cathedral dome seen from south of the river

Terms and conditions of entry

Understand the terms and conditions of entering our building, whether for sightseeing or events.

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Morning Prayer

Morning Prayer is a simple, short spoken service which takes place at 7.30am on Monday to Saturday. It lasts for around 25 minutes.

Every weekday at 7.30am

Free and unticketed