St. Paul's: The Monuments

Well, a few of the ones I care or know about. Much of modern British history is represented in St. Paul's monuments...

One of the iconic photos of WWII, London burning the night of
December 29th, 1940, after a massive incendiary bombing by
the Germans, part of their "Baedeker" campaign to destroy British
historical and cultural monuments; this photo, "St. Paul's Survives,"
alone did much to steel British resolve, no matter what was ahead

Thus perhaps the cathedral's most important monument is outside,

across the street, the monument to the Fire Watchers and Fire Fighters

of those dark days

Sir Joshua Reynolds

Nelson, whose tomb is in the crypt

America's favorite British general, Cornwallis;
it wasn't his fault: read Barbara Tuchman's The
First Salute

My favorite British artist, Turner

John Donne, metaphysical poet and Dean of the
Cathedral

Wellington, general, victor, prime minister, gets
pride of place and largest monument, upstairs

In the crypt, Wren's tomb

"If you want to see my monument, look around you..."

A stone bearing Wren's mark; he lived to the ripe age of 90 to
see his son lay the Cathedral's final stone

In the crypt are seeming hundreds of memorials and monuments,
mostly military and naval; hey, you can't have an Empire without
military and naval strength!

Also in the crypt, not terribly helpful models of today's
Cathedral and 

Its predecessor

Nelson's tomb

Great movie!

Many of Churchill's important generals and admirals are here--he
and Clementine are at a simple parish church graveyard near
Blenheim--I include Monty largely to mention Hemingway's martini
recipe, which he called the "Montgomery": 15 parts gin to 1 part
vermouth, referring to the field marshal's reluctance to attack
until he had a crushing advantage in numbers and armor; see
A Sidecar Named Desire, an amusing book on writers and what
fueled them 

Wellington

And finally this, near the exit, past the gift shop: a plaque naming
all the most important memorials and monument lost in the Cathedral
in the Great Fire

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