Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, 10 March 2024
A gentle day (9th March) in London visiting some very different venues! As part of looking at exhibitions and other displays, Willem and I went to three venues today. The first was St. Paul’s Cathedral, the second Apsley House, the stately home of the Duke of Wellington who defeated Napoleon in 1815, and the third was the King's Gallery (the former Queen’s Gallery), Buckingham Palace.
Statue of Mountstuart Elphinstone, in the crypt of St. Paul's, London. Photograph Willem Vogelsang.On the ground floor, the grand cathedral of St. Paul’s has become a commercial institute with a couple of small chapels for those who want to pray, but visitors have to pay for the honour of being there, and it feels like it. But there are some interesting items, such as the very grand and elaborate memorial to the Duke of Wellington!
However, going down into the Crypt is stepping into British history, as there are the graves and memorials to Sir Christopher Wren, Sir Isaac Newton, Florence Nightingale, Montgomery of El Alamein as well as many artists and poets including Blake, Millais and Turner. The 18th century memorials are subdued, the 19th century ones are not.