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Old St Paul's Cathedral facts for kids

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St Paul's old. From Francis Bond, Early Christian Architecture. Last book 1913.
The Cathedral, as it would have appeared in 1561.

Old Saint Paul's Cathedral was the medieval cathedral of the City of London. It was one of the largest churches in northern Europe. It was started in 1087, under William the Conqueror, after a fire destroyed the old cathedral in the same year. It was not complete until 1314. In 1666, it burned down in the Great Fire of London. After that, Christopher Wren built a new cathedral on the same site.

Images for kids

  • Copperplate map St Pauls

    Old St. Paul's as shown on the "Copperplate" map of the 1550s

  • Engraving of St Paul's at a later date showing the rose window. The spire has been lost.

    Rose window of Old St Paul's Cathedral.

  • Engraving of the nave, a vast, long space with Norman arches stretching into the distance and a vaulted ceiling. The rose window is just visible in the distance.

    Wenceslas Hollar's engraving of the cathedral nave, "Paul's walk".

  • A lofty Norman cathedral interior is full of people treating the building like a marketplace.

    John Franklin's illustration of Paul's Walk for William Harrison Ainsworth's 1841 novel Old St. Paul's.

  • A colourful painting of a sermon being preached to hundreds of people from a wooden pulpit in the grounds of the old cathedral. The perspective of the image is wrong, making the people look huge by comparison to the building.

    A sermon preached from St Paul's Cross in 1614 (Society of Antiquaries)

  • Old St Pauls Cathedral Ashwell Church

    A graffito executed on a wall of St. Mary's Church, Ashwell in Hertfordshire is believed to show Old St. Paul's Cathedral.

  • An engraving showing the cross-shaped plan of the cathedral.

    Hollar's 1658 plan of the cathedral.

  • An image of the west front of the cathedral, showing a somewhat incongruous classical-style porch added to the cathedral, with eight tall columns, looking a little like the Parthenon.

    Classical-style West Front by Inigo Jones added between 1630 and 1666.

  • St Pauls Max Gill

    A 1913 memorial commemorating those who were buried or memorialised in the old cathedral.

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