James Baquet

    London’s iconic Cathedral Church of Saint Paul’s is the result of a terrible tragedy followed upon by the genius of Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723).

    For four days in September of 1666, the Great Fire of London — which started in a bakery — burned the medieval city that lay inside the old Roman walls. About 70,000 of the city’s 80,000 inhabitants were left homeless, as around 13,200 houses burned, along with 87 churches, numerous city offices, and St. Paul’s Cathedral.

    Enter Christopher Wren, one of history’s best-known architects, despite the fact that — as we observed about science at the time — architecture was not a distinct profession in his day. He was a man of general “natural knowledge” (and a founder of the Royal Society, of which he was later president), including astronomy, anatomy, and geometry.

    In 1665, Wren visited Paris and studied her churches, which were then the epitome of ecclesiastical architecture. Upon his return, he had submitted plans for renovation of the so-called “Old St. Paul’s” when the Great Fire of 1666 struck.

    The first St. Paul’s may have been built on the same site in 604 CE. Several replacements occurred, due to destruction by fire or unrest, until the third or fourth on the site was completed in 1240, though it was later enlarged twice. It was also damaged by the religiously-motivated political unrest of the day. This was the church that was heavily damaged by the 1666 fire, when the decision was made to tear down the ruins and replace it entirely.

    That’s when the polymath Wren was called on. Architecture was then considered a branch of applied mathematics, one of the many fields in which Wren excelled. Though the work on St. Paul’s was completed over a decade before his death at 91, he continued to visit it to examine the “progress” of what he called “my greatest work.” On one such visit he caught a chill that led to his death.

    He is buried in the crypt under the church. Part of his epitaph reads (translated from Latin), “If you seek his monumen t— look around you.”

    Vocabulary

    Which word above means:

    1. of a church or churches;

    2. person who is learned in many subjects;

    3. people who live in a place;

    4. an important church, one where a bishop is in charge;

    5. words written on a grave;

    6. acting as a sign or symbol of something;

    7. of the Middle Ages;

    8. remodeling or improvement;

    9. perfect example;

    10. underground room

    ANSWERS:

    1. ecclesiastical;

    2. polymath;

    3. inhabitants;

    4. cathedral;

    5. epitaph;

    6. iconic;

    7. medieval;

    8. renovation;

    9. epitome;

    10. crypt