Whispering Gallery

The Whispering Gallery is one of the most famous features of Sir Christopher Wren’s great masterpiece, St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

If you speak in this gallery, which runs round the inside of the great dome, the sound waves of your voice will be carried round to the opposite side of the gallery because the waves are prevented from going outwards by the stones lining the circular wall.

The great dome of St. Paul’s really two domes – an outer dome with a diameter of 148 feet and an inner dome with a diameter of 103 feet. A hollow cone of brickwork between them supports a steeple-like structure in six diminishing stages culminating in the ball and cross. The top of the cross is 404 feet above the ground.

St. Paul’s has been acclaimed as the most magnificent domed building of the Renaissance period. It replaced the Norman cathedral which was destroyed  in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and whose tower and spire were 124 feet higher than the present building.

The foundation stone of the new St. Paul’s was laid in 1675 and 35 years later the final stone of the cupola was put into position.

Great craftsmen were employed on the interior decoration. Francis Bird carved the Conversion of St. Paul over the great pediment. Grinling Gibbons, one of England’s and the world’s finest woodcarvers, worked on the choir stalls, and the wrought iron work was done by Jean Tijou, the renowned ironsmith.

Here is a video describing why it is called the whispering gallery: