About St Paul's Cathedral
The Great Fire of 1666 left the old cathedral in ruins, and Christopher Wren got the chance to start from scratch. The first stone was laid in 1675 and, from 1710 to 1963, no building in London was taller. It hosted Winston Churchill's state funeral in 1965 and the wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981, who chose St Paul's over the Abbey because it held more people.
But the real program is the climb. There are 257 steps to the Whispering Gallery, famous for walls that carry a voice, and 528 in all to the Golden Gallery, with the whole city at your feet.
