While in London a few weeks ago I had a little bit of time to visit one of my fav buildings there - the stunning St Pancras Church.
The church is built in the greek temple style - which is why I love it. The statues in the part above always make me think of the temple of vesta in the palatine hill complex in Rome, although to be fair - St Pancras is very definitely modelled on Greek temples, and not Roman temples.
Above is a pic I took at the temple of vesta in Rome when we were there in October - not nearly identical, but you can see what I mean.
The church is just across the road from Euston Station, which I used to visit regularly in a previous job, and I'd often take 5 mins to go and check out the church. So I've been to see it and walk around it many times - and I just love its architecture. However, in all those times, its never been open, so I've never been inside :(
It is still a working church, so it is open at certain times for prayer in the afternoons, so that may be an opportunity some day.
The plaque above was near the main front door, and the history is quite incredible - with the old church, which predates this one having history back to the 11th century (1000 years !). And it goes on to say that the building is modelled after the Temple of Erecheum on the Acroplis in Athens, and the tower at the top is copied from the Tower of the Winds also in Athens - how cool is that !!!
As per the history panel, construction started in 1819 and was completed in 1822 - so just 3 years, which I would say is pretty good for something as spectacular as this.
There were people inside when I was there, and I was tempted to go and knock on the door to see if I could get access to see the inside - but I thought best to not disturb them.
And I spotted this more modern sculpture outside which I hadnt remembered seeing before- it looks quite cool, but I'm not sure that I'd fancy being the poor chap at the top !
And just look at those doors at the front - you can see a lady of to the right for scale - they are bloomin huuuuuge. And I absolutely love the detailing on them and on the door frames around them - very impressive.
I got there just as it was getting dark, hence the pics are quite dark - but even in silhouette form its quite beautiful, and it helps to pic out some of the other details like the decorative upstands around the top of the roof.
Well its very much on the list of my fav buildings, and I hope to be able to visit it many times in the future and hopefully one day see the inside !