Comments on: At St Paul’s In Old London

By: David

David — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 14:36:13 +0000

Hands down, the loveliest building in all of London.

By: Pauline Taylor

Pauline Taylor — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 18:23:21 +0000

When my father was alive he and I went on the tour up into the cross at the top of St Paul’s, an experience that I shall never forget. We were helped to step over the drop as we neared the top and I still remember what it was like to look down to the floor so far below. Happy memories. Thanks to my Pop for making that possible.

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 17:07:12 +0000

I can’t take my eyes off of it. The photo above, with the streams of light entering from the right
edge of the photo? — Look at it again. The light falls upon two people in the massive crowd, and seems to pick them out for special attention. I wish I knew: How did it feel to have that momentary celestial beam fall on their faces/heads/shoulders/hands-holding-hymnals? Were they two friends, attending the service together……or two strangers who happened to be selected for special solar attention? What was the occasion?

What? Who? When? Why? A tribute to the photographer (and the cathedral!) that such questions insist on answers. Although sometimes, just having a question is enough.
Thank you, GA.

By: Laurent Beaulieu

Laurent Beaulieu — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 15:50:52 +0000

I agree St-Paul is an enormous church and whenever I visit I am always surprised at its size inside and the many monuments and memorials, decorations etc. A few years ago I took an audio-guide tour and it was all too much to listen too all at once to understand it all. An interesting detail when I was visiting St-Peter in Rome, there is an outline on the floor of the basilica in marble to show that St-Paul is smaller than St-Peter in actual size, the difference is negligible, but I thought it was funny to see.

By: Jill Wilson

Jill Wilson — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 14:35:36 +0000

Great images of the greatest London building…

I also always find the iconic picture of St Paul’s standing proudly defiant in the midst of the Blitz bombing very moving.

By: Helen Breen

Helen Breen — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 13:15:19 +0000

Greetings from Boston,

GA, thanks for sharing those great black ‘n white studies of St. Paul’s when it was the tallest building in London. I love walking across Millennial Bridge from Southbank and observing the cathedral as it looms ever larger in view. The Shard, the Gherkin, the Cheese Grater etc. fade in the distance as a modern backdrop.

Well said – “You are within the skull of a sleeping giant, dreaming the history of London, with its glittering panoply and dark episodes. The success of this building is to render everything else marginal, because when you are inside it you feel you are at the centre of the world.”

Amen…

By: Paul Loften

Paul Loften — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 13:05:55 +0000

Thank you for showing these magnificent photos of how St Paul’s dominated the landscape of central London in the 1920s . The images of the Cathedral in its natural state covered in the grime of history evokes within me a deeper regard for its presence. I dont know if I am alone in feeling that way. It certainly is more attractive for the tourist to see it sparkling clean and white.

By: Ian Silverton

Ian Silverton — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 09:17:43 +0000

As a child could see The St Paul’s Dome from my bedroom window in the East End, this was to become my play ground when I started my first school in the City of London because one of my fellow pupils Granfather was a Clergyman there if that’s not doing him a disservice he might have been more senior,as he aloud some of Grandchilds friends to play inside and on a few days gave us a tour with tea, must have devoid of Tourist then as it was pretty quite around the 1950s, been back many times since taking my Granchildren on the self same tour. Happy New Year GA and all your readers. Stay safe London.
D

By: Alex Knisely

Alex Knisely — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 07:26:15 +0000

“You are within the skull of a sleeping giant, dreaming the history of London” – a particularly successful phrase.