Religious Buildings

Can We Just Go Back?

This London trip was a trip I’ll never forget and now that I am home I just cannot wait to go back. One thing I noticed since being back was how much more calm the UK was about the virus and now being home I see just how crazy it is here. Anyways, my favorite moments from the trip were St. Paul’s, Greenwich, Westminster, and the shard. St. Paul’s and Westminster were stunning with there amazing amounts of history and detail that were just mind-blowing. Greenwich was amazing with its combination of stunning architecture and amazing greenery. The views from the observatory were well worth the steep hike up to the top even though it meant giving up some time in the Queen’s House. Finally, I felt that the shard was an amazing way to end the trip as we got to look back over everything we had seen throughout our trip and really made me reflect and appreciate our time in London. The entire trip in general made me love city of London and I hope to one day go back and who knows, I would now after this trip consider even living and working there as well which would create even more amazing memories in that city.

St. Paul’s Choir

View from the observatory at Greenwich

View from the shard

Conflict in Architecture

For one of the last blog posts for this trip I thought it would be nice to reflect on the experience. Coming to London I was riding this high of leaving for spring break. I was in a state of excitement because I knew I was going to turn 20 in London whilst also just leaving mid review on high hopes. I was excited to see St. Paul’s, Tate modern and the general city context. For the most part I was very fulfilled by this trip. That being said, in the midst of the trip our academic semester was put to a halt due to the Coronavirus. So as the trip progressed the pandemic began to morph our classes to become online and to start us on a process to leave the university. For me, this conflict made me wonder and reflect on architecture that is created from conflict. An example being north Ireland within the years of 1960-90. During this time the country was under siege but the city Belfast was still developing and the city’s architecture reflects that. In the case of London you can see much of the architecture around St. Paul’s. During WW2, St Paul’s was protect by people constantly however the aerial surrounding it was completely destroyed. Due to this the architecture around the cathedral was birthed out of conflict.

 

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Henry Moore’s Mother and Child in St. Paul’s Cathedral

One of the most interesting pieces I found in St. Paul’s Cathedral was Henry Moore’s Mother and Child: Hood. Moore’s semi-abstract sculptures helped create a very specific form of modernism in the United Kingdom.

Completed in 1983 out of travertine marble, Moore’s take on Michelangelo’s Pieta is able to convey the grieving Mary after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ using minimal detail. The characteristic disparity in size between the Madonna and Christ becomes further exaggerated through the abstraction of form. The way Moore nests the two figures strengthens the maternal relationship by creating an almost wombic cradle.

Seeing more contemporary works of art in such historical spaces highlights the interconnectedness of their simultaneous presence in the city.

Henry Moore’s Mother and Child

A Willingness to Change?

London continues to amaze. I have been afforded the opportunity to visit some culturally and historically rich sites of England. These sites included Stonehenge, Westminster Abbey, and Tower of London. After all sites had been visited, I think the idea that stuck out the most to me was the idea of change. The Blue Badge Tour Guide at Westminster Abbey indicated that the church was a combination of years of ideas with no original plan. He elaborated that even though Westminster may appear to be finished, they will continue to update the architecture to fit current needs. I found this idea that they would be so willing to change the building as seen fit instead of freezing it in its current time period very unique. The openness to change was quite different than what I experienced in Stonehenge and Tower of London. Stonehenge had had an unfortunate history of vandalism before it became a much more regulated area, but as a result, Stonehenge never seems likely to change. The historical preservationist organization that cares for the structure seem to have frozen it in place with only additions and changes to infrastructure around the site. This idea seemed more normal as that has been my general experience. When going to museums like the Tower of London, the pieces within seem to be static and unlikely to ever change. The whole idea of willingness to change was extremely surprising to me, but I am glad that the people of England and its visitors will have spaces that make sense for current uses instead of outdated purposes.

West works of Westminster Abbey. Latest additions include 10 small statues above doorway.

Stonehenge: A Complete Mystery of Use

White Tower within larger Tower of London fortress

A Rocky Situation

Sketch of 3 sarsen stones.

On our visit outside of the city, Stonehenge popped up almost at random out of the rolling green hills as a ruin made of a pile of rocks. Before coming here it seemed so much a mystical site that tv and historians tell an impossible tale, however upon viewing It for myself, I realize that though the stones are huge, it seems possible with enough man power. The organization seems reasonable for a time when people wanted to congregate around something as powerful at the stars and the sun. Being able to understand formations like this as a man made form begins to dissolve the improbability of some of these structures we aren’t used to seeing outside of a history book. The complex is quite big, but at a small enough scale that it is plausible. Surely not as big as the pyramids, so I can more clearly confirm that aliens did not create Stonehenge.

The Peculiar Mixing of the New and the Old

As the days have gone by I’ve come to enjoy London more and more. Many things are different here than in the U.S., but perhaps none as much as the mixing of past and present. In U.S., sites of deep historical significance are few and far between. The ones that do exist are set almost on a stage, in their own environment, removed from the modern world in a way. That is not the case here. There are so many historical sites, too many to see in just 10 days. All of these sites are part of the fabric of London; they sit on the street like every other building. I first noticed this when I saw parts of the old Roman walls. They were just in a little green space, in the shadow of several buildings. I thought it was incredible that these pieces of ancient architecture were just sitting here, free for anyone to climb on, paint on, or just ignore. Although other sites I visited were held in a higher sense of reverence, they were still just sitting there, right next to the sidewalk. As I headed to St. Paul’s Cathedral, I couldn’t help but feel that it was somewhat peculiar to have this grand cathedral on one side of the street and a McDonald’s on the other. Even Westminster Abbey, which is somewhat more isolated as it is next to Parliament, sat right next to the street, with people just driving and walking past trying to get to somewhere else. It just seems wild to me that these buildings and sites of huge cultural and historical significance are framed by, or in the shadow of, apartments, cafes, and commercial businesses. Even when I went to Stonehenge, I couldn’t help but notice that it was not surrounded by a park, but rather farmland, with sheep grazing just a plot of land away. Maybe because Britain, and London more specifically, has so many historic sites, that it would be impossible to give them all the “proper” setting, so instead they are just treated like every other building. Either way, at least I can observe St. Paul’s while eating a Big Mac.

Parts of the Roman walls, just kind of sitting there, seemingly forgotten.

Stonehenge framing a highway

Westminster Abbey siting right behind a flow of traffic

Museums, Greenwich and Cathedrals, Oh my!

On Saturday, the afternoon after we arrived in London, we went to St Paul’s cathedral. The inside was incredibly intricate and vast, the structure is monumental and absolutely gorgeous. We climbed up many compact, winding stairs (through the double dome structure) to get an amazing view of the city, which really helped me to orient myself, and gave a great preview to all the activities and places to look forward to in the coming days.

View out from top of St Pauls towards One New Change shopping mall.

Our second full day in London consisted of a 10 mile walking tour, starting with Monument, then heading down to Tower of London, across Tower Bridge to Tate Modern, a boat out to Greenwich, and finally ending at the Olympic Village. My favorite part of this whole day was visiting Greenwich, where we saw the Painted Hall, The Queens House, and the Prime Meridian. The whole complex was incredibly beautiful, I especially enjoyed the Thornhill paintings in the Painted Hall. We also hiked up the hill to the observatory, and got a great view out towards the Thames.

Ceiling by Thornhill in Greenwich Painted Hall

The next day, we visited the British Museum, where we drew the central plaza and reading room. This was a real challenge, because the ceiling is very complex. My favorite part of the museum was all the Greek statues.

View of Reading Room and ceiling at the British Museum

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Sketched view looking down the nave from the quire at St. Paul’s

I really enjoyed visiting St Paul’s on our first day, and I thought that one of the coolest views that I saw was this view from the quire area, looking down the nave. I thought it was important to add the scripture book in front, because from this view it felt like I was addressing the congregation. I also thought it was important to get the deep perspective in this view because the nave is so long, so I used converging lines that all meet at the end of the nave. This view was also full of detail, so I had to limit the amount of detail I included in my sketch, and instead just added a little more density to the lines in certain spots to give the illusion of more detail.

Sketch of part of A statue of King Ramses I

I thought that this huge statue of part of a statue of King Ramses II was one of the coolest artifacts in the museum. It was located right in the. Middle of three Egyptian artifacts, and towered over all of the other items, so it was the first thing that most people notice when they walk in. For my sketch I tried to use a wide range of shading so that the drawing wouldn’t appear flat, as it did originally with just the linework. It also seemed like Ramses II was gazing out over the crowd unbothered by the people below him in this statue, which is the feeling that I tried to capture in this sketch.

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On Saturday, we were able to go to so many cool places such as Barbican, Museum of London, and St. Paul’s Cathedral. We took the tube for the first time from Tottenham Court Road to St. Paul’s on the Central Line! The tube was much cleaner than I could’ve imagine, especially compared to the subway in NYC. It felt very easy to navigate which was very reassuring for the rest of the trip.

Casey and I in the Tube for the first time.

Barbican was a very different building to be in, as I haven’t been in many brutalist buildings before. It was really interesting learning more about Brutalism from Troy’s lecture while we were in the building.

From Barbican we went to the Museum of London. There were a few really cool sections to see, but the most exciting one was definitely the London Wall. Even though it is just a small bit of the wall, it is so amazing to think of how long that has been standing and how much history is within that wall. We got to go all the way up to it, which I wasn’t expecting. The wall was amazing to see, and obviously Casey was very excited about it.

Casey being extremely excited about the London Wall.

After being at the museum we made our way to St. Paul’s Cathedral. This was by far my favorite part of the trip so far. I’ve been in many beautiful churches but this was one of the most amazing churches I’ve ever been in. The dome was unreal and even though the stairs all the way up to the top were extremely difficult, the view from the top was so worth it.

The inside of the dome at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Birds Eye View of London

London has been breathtaking so far. Everything we have visited so far has not been short of amazing. The three places that stood out to me on the first three days of the trip were St. Paul’s Cathedral on day one, The ArcelorMittal Orbit “Twizzler” on day two, and The London Eye on day three. These three sites particularly stand out to me due to their access to view the city from above. What makes it really amazing is that these are three very different structures in different locations around London. All three sites give you a completely different view of the city.

KEEP IT MOVING!!!!

On day one we went to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and it was defiantly worth the 528 step climb to the Golden Gallery at the top. The 85m view of the city gave me a sense of how big London really is. I was amazed by the views looking out from St. Paul’s, but it was also really interesting seeing the openings left in the planning for to city to preserve the views of St. Paul’s. I was so amazed by the view, that I had to take one last photo and in the process of taking it we got yelled at by the worker in the picture to keep it moving.

Bottom of the twizzler looking up.

The 80m tall observation deck that looks over Olympic Park

On day two we went to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and went to the top of the “Twizzler” to go down the curly metal slide. I was not able to get a photo from the top because we couldn’t bring any personal items on the slide. Once we got up to the 80m tall observation deck I was able to get a birds eye view of the Olympic stadium, swimming pavilion and the city from far away.

View from the top of the London Eye.

On day three of the trip we rode The London Eye, the pod took us up 135m to give a nice view of the city and the River Thames. This 360 viewing pod gave me a perfect view of the city from every angle and helped me understand the scale of everything in the city a little bit more.

It’s the Little Things

The first couple of days in London have been some spectacular ones. Seeing St. Pauls Cathedral through photos certainly did not do it justice. It was really the first time I have experienced the sublime architecture feeling, and with such close attention to detail in every aspect of the design. There was so many things that attracted my attention, it was difficult to keep my head still. But, in the end there were those small instances where my eyes were drawn to these particular details within the large volume of space that seemed so small in comparison to the whole but just as beautiful.

Wooden spiral column hidden behind altar.

I will never forget having to practically sprint up the stairs to get to the top of St. Pauls or how sore I was the next day. But, I will also never forget the views and the small spaces you pass through to get there. It was truly a unique experience getting to walk between the domes and shooting through to these large open spaces with generous views of the city below.

Spiral staircase leading to the top of St. Pauls.

Small window letting some light through on the way back down from the top of St. Pauls.

I enjoy getting to see these small interworking’s and think about why they were put there, what purpose they served, or what was there before it, etc. Because these are the things we often over look but it is still a cog in the machine and should be getting the same recognition and admiration. I say this because it is surprising to think in general that a detail so small would matter to a structure that’s monumentally large.

Looking towards Wrens sneakily fake facade.

Jack’s Day 1 Blog Post

Ever since I applied for this class and was accepted I couldn’t wait to see Saint Paul’s because of it being such an iconic landmark of London for its beautiful architecture and astronomical scale. Therefore, not having to wait the whole trip to see it was definitely a bonus as well. When we first arrived I was immediately blown away by the scale of things but also by just how ornate and detailed every inch of the cathedral was. There wasn’t a missing detail and nothing looked anything less than perfect. We ventured up to the golden gallery first which definitely wasn’t made with the thought of taller people. However by the time you got up there the views were breathtaking. It was also somewhat scary thinking you were that high up and just a railing was there to stop you if you tripped however I became more and more comfortable and got the take in the amazing panoramic views. Overall, Saint Paul’s was everything I thought it would be and more. Now I am excited to see Westminster Abbey and how it compares to Saint Paul’s. I am sure it will be equally fantastic and cannot wait to see Henry VII’s chapel with its one of a kind ceiling.

Northern End of the Transepts

St. Paul’s Dome

Gates leading into the choir