atypicality - st paul's

St Paul’s Cross

• important site of both religious and civil gatherings in Tudor and Stuart England

• prominent stage for political and religious debate, especially during the Long Reformation

  • e.g. Thomas Cranmer used the pulpit to defend the Protestant doctrine of salvation by faith alone, which was central to the Reformation’s theological shifts

• unlike many religious buildings that confined discourse to the clergy, St Paul’s Cross was open to the public

• we know about it due to John Gipkin’s painting

Western Portico

• this physical feature is one of the earliest and most dramatic examples of architectural hybridisation in England (gothic sacred tradition overlaid with classical Renaissance ideals)

• Western Portico unusually features a classical-style portico (a colonnaded porch with a pediment) which was inspired by ancient Roman architecture

• added by Inigo Jones in the 1630s

• the stylism of this feature was deeply influenced by the Italian Renaissance and Palladian ideals, making it a radical departure from the rest of the building’s medieval Gothic style

• we know about it due to Wenceslaus Hollar

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