St. Paul's: The Cathedral

Vicki had already visited St. Paul's a couple or maybe three times, and I'd visited it at least once, way back, and neither of us cares very much for the Baroque anyway. "If it ain't Baroque..." I always say. But there are some certain buildings you just have to see, out of respect for their age and history, for the art or monuments within, or maybe for the views from their top-most bits. In my case, it was all of these, plus the desire, approaching the age of 75 and suffering no less from the case of mal de debarquement syndrome I acquired in 2014, to demonstrate I could still do a very long staircase. So while Vicki did R&R on August 13th, I did St. Paul's Cathedral. For the record, it is the third of fourth cathedral on this site, built by Christopher Wren & company after the 1666 fire (we would have liked its Gothic predecessor), very much Baroque--it was designed and built during the Restoration mostly; Wren was a Royalist, a Catholic at heart, I suppose, and had visited St. Peter's in Rome for ideas--and, like most English churches, it is filled with monuments and memorials.

From Paternoster square, adjacent to the cathedral

Say what you will about Anglicanism and Henry VIII, but, it
should be noted, by way of contrast, there is no Campari stand
on Vatican square

Assorted iconic views

Nave view

Dome

North transept

South; at least they're smallish

Quire and beyond

Looking back west

All kind of domes and half-domes, filled with huge mosaics, 
just like in Rome

Organ

Nice display on Gibbons' wood-carving in the quire

Altar, etc.

Windows, yes, but nothing of the age or style that

impresses

Back west from the quire

The crypt runs pretty much the length of the building, and, except
for this chapel, is mostly monuments, memorials, etc....next post

Nice big gift shoppe to exit through, also in the crypt

Ascent Of The Marble Arch Mound

The Marble Arch is a mid-19th century triumphal arch designed by John Nash (of Regent's Park and other fame) intended originally as the principal entrance to the then-new Buckingham Palace. When the Queen's family outgrew the original palace, an addition was needed, and the Marble Arch had to go. It was moved to the corner of Hyde Park and Oxford St., and in the ensuing century-plus it has stayed more or less there, its principal new function being that of lending its name to the Tube station and shopping area thereabouts. It is small, ugly, ill-placed, and commemorates no particular triumph. Last year, in an effort to rehabilitate the Oxford St. shopping area during COVID, the Westminster city council voted to build a mound, that is, an artificial hill, next to the Arch, offering views of the nearby park and shopping district. Despite an 8£ admission charge, it was hoped that the Marble Arch Mound would attract shoppers and tourists by the tens of thousands. But that hope has not panned out and, amid public derision, a temporary closure, and a 400% cost over-run (round it off at a projected $8MM total), the city council has seen its first resignation over the matter. As a first-order world-class municipal boondoggle, it was something we had not only to see but to experience. 

The Marble Arch

The Mound; we immediately noticed the elevator tower

In perhaps an act of contrition, the city council is 
waving the admission fee for August

To some of us, a mound suggests a bunch of earth piled up; but
not this Mound; there is a thin skin of earth, grass, and a few forlorn
trees stuck on top of the scaffolding; the scaffolding itself is at 
least consistent with much of the rest of London

Happily, we were permitted to take the lift (one of the few perks
of being perceived as elderly) up and down

The, um, view

Overlooking the Marble Arch

Just as you might expect, the Hard Rock Hotel (!) blocks much of
the view, as do other nearby buildings

Another once-in-a-lifetime experience! Personally, I think the
whole thing might have turned out differently had they marketed
it as a scenic pop-up; maybe sell bubble-tea at the top and 
unique souvenirs ("I climbed The Mound" t-shirts); but then I
also advocated marketing Butte's Berkeley Pit as the Grand 
Canyon of Montana

Another Day At The V&A

August 12th we visited the Victoria and Albert Museum again, this time doing the Raphael Cartoons, some British history, some ceramics, and most of the glass collection. Almost any part of this museum is overwhelming in the size and extent of the collections. It's hard to imagine what a "highlights" tour would encompass. Oh well. On the way back we detoured a bit toward Oxford St. Vicki had wanted to see the Marble Arch and particularly the Marble Arch Mound, a world-class municipal boondoggle of epic proportions. Our ascent of the Mound will appear in the next post. 

Standing in line to get in, noting bomb damage to the building
from 1940-1941

Now in the great hall of Raphael cartoons; despite what you may
have heard at Disneyworld, a cartoon, in this sense, is a full
scale preparatory drawing, usually in charcoal, to guide in the
production of a large fresco or, in this case, tapestry; not just
any tapestry...these are for the Sistine Chapel...a whole series
about the life and works of Jesus...each cartoon consists of about
200 smaller bits of paper; after being finished, the cartoons were
sent off to the shops where the tapestries were done and copies
made (for other monarchs, etc.); perhaps the V&A's most valuable
artistic possessions

Raphael's Cartoon, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, 1515, 
body color over charcoal; huge

Tapestry made from the cartoon, Mortlake Factory, England, at
the request of Charles I (his dad, James I, had acquired the cartoons
from an unidentified source a few years earlier); also huge

At the head of the great hall is this colossal if mysteriously placed
St. George and the lizard altar piece from Valencia, Spain; no
relationship to cartoons, tapestries, Raphael, nor the Renaissance;
we figured they put it here to cover a hole in the wall

Ordinarily, cartoons get used up in the fresco- or tapestry-
making processes; that these many hundreds of sheets have
survived is pretty miraculous; we attended a docent's lecture
while in the great cartoon hall and learned this as well as many
other facets of the matter; never miss the docents' talks nor free
guided tours

Moving right along, upstairs, into the vast
British history section, a bust of Charles I with
Big Hair

Official court portrait of Henry VIII, 1527,
painter unknown (although his head was seen
on a pike near Tower Bridge); hoping to upgrade
his image, Henry switched to Holbein the
Younger shortly after this

Hoot of the day: the Great Bed of Ware, 16th-17th centuries, seen
in a number of inns and pubs in Hertfordshire in those times; it is
colossal, probably 8x10 feet, and was constructed to be a tourist
lure; it was well enough known by the end of the 16th century for 
Shakespeare to have included a reference to it in Twelfth Night

Occupants carved their initials and other thoughts into the wood
all over it

And also waxed seals

Virginal thought to have been played by QE1, an accomplished
keyboardist

For some years before her execution, Queen Mary of Scotland
lived under house arrest in several of the great houses in England,
including that of Bess of Hardwick, embroidering away; above
are several panels done by her

The Drake Jewel, given by the Queen to Sir Francis
in recognition of his role in defeating the Spanish
Armada, late 1580s

Moving right along, now we are upstairs, examining hall after
hall of ceramics, porcelain, Delft, you name it...

This will be on the quiz

Usually I try to get pictures from the crossing, looking up into

the dome: here, for a change, we are looking down, 4 or 5 floors

to the old museum entrance

Ever more ceramics

Now we are into the great halls of glass, looking particularly at
the ancient and Medieval glass

Medieval Islamic, incredible detail and beauty

The Roemer Wine Glass, 1689

Good thing they don't have earthquakes in London; do they?

Visitors' bench in the glass departments

San Sebastian in glass

Shelf after shelf, case after case, floor after floor, room after room...

At last it came to an end; staff shortages caused some areas to
be closed for the day; we were told

Parthian shot as we are leaving the old building

And looking up to where I'd shot down earlier