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 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
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.
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