Blog 9: St. Paul vs. Westminster

If I was required to pick my personal favorite religious building we have had the pleasure to explore, I would have to pick St. Paul’s Cathedral. This may be due to my own religious background as well as my taste in architecture and design. Unlike Westminster Abbey, which is a Catholic church, St. Paul’s Cathedral is Anglican. From what I have read, Westminster Abbey is used more ceremonially than St. Paul’s Cathedral by the monarchs. That is due mainly to the fact that most monarchs in the Renaissance associated themselves with the Catholic religion, therefore defaulting to the Catholic Church for important ceremonies. There is also the fact that it has been around longer and has possibly just become traditional for the monarchs. Most weddings of the royals have occurred at Westminster Abbey. The only one to have been held at St. Paul’s was well after the 16^th and 17^th centuries, as it was the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1981.

There are also differences outside of religion. Christopher Wren, the builder of the Cathedral, did not want to use a “Romanesque” or “Gothic” theme as that was very commonly associated with the Catholic churches in England. Instead, he chose to build it in a Greek style after, according to the history on the BBC website, going through many design ideas that were not so popular to the clergy who were so used to the Gothic designs. The Catholic churches are also typically built in the shape of a cross. That is how they believe they should be built. St. Paul’s Cathedral was built based around the magnificent dome as it was meant to be the perfect center of the city of London. Also, Westminster serves as a school as well as an Abbey. St. Paul’s has as well, but it has been used for many different reasons, too. According to the guidebook it was “a center for trade, community gatherings, executions, political business, a place to purchase a prostitute…” It was very publicly used, as Michael mentioned when talking about where St. Paul’s Cross used to be. 

Apparently, the public would go there to openly complain about things or try to change issues. It was also accepted by the clergy for them to do so.

During the Civil War in England, St. Paul’s Cathedral was basically shut down from its normal schedule as the clergy was dissolved so parliament could use it as a cavalry barracks and stable for hundreds of horses. During that time, it was also destroyed. Though most of the building was destroyed in the Great Fire, the Crypts and a few things in it (like John Donne’s effigy) survived to be there today. Westminster has had a good amount of fix-ups and replacements, but never has it been completely destroyed.