Chairman: John C. Harvey • Chairman Emeritus: William R. Miller, CBE • Board Members: Richard S. Berzine • David R. Frediani • Peter S. Goltra • Howard R. Greene • Kenneth F. Koen • Robert W. Mullen • Nicholas C. Walsh• The Rt. Rev. Graeme Knowles
Advisory Board Chairman: The Honorable George P. Shultz
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Queen marks 300th anniversary of St Paul's Cathedral (cont.)

The service marked three centuries since Sir Christopher Wren's masterpiece in London opened to the public. It has been the setting for many great occasions, including the funerals of Adm. Horatio Nelson and Winston Churchill, and the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

 

The enduring image of the cathedral is of the great dome looming intact, wreathed in smoke from German bombing in December 1940.

 

Restoration workers cleaned the church's structure and repaired damage left over from World War II, at a cost of 40 million pounds ($65 million). Soot and grime were carefully washed from the exterior, decayed mortar in the stonework was replaced, and a crack in the dome apparently made by a World War II bomb blast was repaired.

 

"This great building is now in a sound state, and probably looks better than at any time since its completion in 1711," said Martin Stancliffe, who oversaw the project and holds the title of Surveyor to the Fabric. "I used to think that it was rather more like a railway station than a great cathedral. it was very very dirty, it was very unkempt, and that made it a very kind of gloomy and disappointing building to work with."

 

More than a hundred years ago, Queen Victoria had complained that the interior was "most dreary, dingy and undevotional." In response, the building was lavishly decorated with mosaics.

 

At 300, St. Paul's remains one of England's newer cathedrals, the fourth to stand on the site in London's financial district. It replaced a medieval building destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666.The footprint of the earlier churches was exposed and has been incorporated into a new garden.

 

Wren was commissioned to design the building in 1668. Construction, funded by a tax on coal, began in 1675, and the first service was held in the incomplete structure on Dec. 2, 1697. On Wren's tomb in the cathedral, an inscription in Latin reads: "If you seek his monument, look around you."

 

Cathedral officials are now turning their attention to the Chapter House, which was rebuilt after a direct hit during the war but now requires restoration and upgrading. The cost of that work is estimated at 4.5 million pounds.

 

 

 

JOHN DONNE ASSOCIATES

OF THE

ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL TRUST IN AMERICA

 

Benefits include:

 

Complimentary admission for a self-guided hand-held audio tour of the Cathedral (up to six visitors)

 

Preferential seating for two at a major service at the Cathedral, including Thanksgiving

  

Reserved seating for one weekday Evensong in the Choir for up to four*

 

Invitations to private social events in the US with visiting dignitaries from the Cathedral

 

Complimentary copy of the hard-cover volume of IMAGES of St. Paul’s in the 21st Century and a CD recording by

The St. Paul’s Cathedral Choristers.

 

*Subject to availability, to be determined by advance arrangement through the SPCTA office.

  

Membership is open to all donors of $500 and above to the SPCTA Annual Fund.

 

Payment may be made online at www.stpaulsusa.org

 

Please do not hesitate to email or call Executive Director, Mark Hansen with any questions.

mark@stpaulsusa.org / Tel. 551-795-0001

 

Many thanks for your kind consideration.