St Paul’s Cathedral, before, during and after the fire of 1666….

Digital reconstruction giving an impression of Old St Paul’s during the Middle Ages. The image is based on a model of the Cathedral in the
Museum of London.

We all know what St Paul’s Cathedral looks like now – that enormous Wren dome looming over the City of London from Ludgate Hill. The above illustration is a reconstructon of the original St Paul’s. What a wonderful building! And how tragic that it was burned down in that cursed fire of 1666. There is now a project to recreate a virtual old St Paul’s. 

Wenceslas Hollar recorded the destruction by the Great Fire as it happened.

Old St Paul’s Cathedral in flames, by Wenceslas Hollar

But we are less likely to happen upon a record of what this lost cathedral looked liked in the immediate aftermath of the fire. The drawing below was by Thomas Wyck, circa 1673.

How very fortunate was Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris to escape as lightly as it did.