St Paul's Cathedral in a mask

It's probably over 30 years since I was last inside St Paul's Cathedral. As lockdown eases then more places are opening. I was in the area a week ago and was surprised by the empty steps up to the entrance that are normally covered in office workers and tourists taking a rest. Of course they're empty, there's so few people around. There was no queue to get in so I thought, 'why not?' and, when I got home, I booked a ticket for a couple of days later. So, at the allotted time, I put on my mask and I went in.

It's a big old barn of a place and looks very empty when you first take a look around and that's (partly) because it is so big. The statues and other memorials dotted around the walls make little impression from a distance due to the scale of the place but a lot of them are big when you get closer. Under the dome and spreading out into the nave were a lot of single chairs spaced out to ensure distancing and a one-way system was placed out for seeing the place. It wasn't really needed when I was there because I'd be surprised if there were more than a dozen or so other visitors. Lockdown and travel restrictions must be playing havoc with its income streams. 

The first 'famous' thing I came across was the painting of 'The Light of the World' by Holman-Hunt (who is buried in the Crypt downstairs. It has a big window above it that means the painting itself looks quite dark and murky and it needs better lighting. There's also a statue by Henry Moore of the 'Mother and Child'. Other than that, it's mainly statues/memorials of the type you've probably seen in lots of other places. There's an interesting effigy of John Donne, poet and former Dean of the Cathedral, near a statue of the painter Turner (who is also buried downstairs in the Crypt). Did you know that Turner was Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy for 30 years? No? Neither did the cathedral it seems. There's a big monument to Nelson celebrating his major battles and he's got a snarling lion at his feet for some reason. As I say, you've probably seen this kind of stuff before but, perhaps, not on such a big scale.

 

The important thing to remember in St Paul's is to look *up*. The ceilings may be far away but they're covered colour, bright pre-Raphaelite-esque paintings

Then you go down into the Crypt and that's where the excitement began (for me at least) when you realise the long list of famous people who are buried there under those flagstones. I apologised out loud when I trod on Turner and then on Frederick Leighton and on Arthur Sullivan. Oops, sorry guys!

There were lots of memorials to people I'd never heard of, of course, loads of random military men and others associated with the Cathedral or simply rich enough to buy a burial there. It was all very strange, in a way, to have so many memorials to military personnel, to random Major-Generals and Field Marshals that I'd never heard of and then finding the rather ugly tombs for Wellington and Nelson. I couldn't help but wonder where all the religious works were given that this cathedral bills itself as 'the nation's church' but it seemed to be more like a military museum or mausoleum, a museum of empire with little referencing it to the present. I found it all very odd.

As you leave the Crypt you can pop into the large and well-stocked shop but what it didn't have is postcards of the place. I saw postcards of the Holman-Hunt painting but that was it. Where are the cards of everything else?

The staff were all very friendly and happy to help but why were so few wearing masks? If visitors are required to wear a mask then why are staff exempt? That made no sense. But I'm pleased I went to see the place after so long and when it was so empty of the normal tourist masses and noise.