As regular readers of my blog will know, Wren is one of my great heroes and I am delighted to report that he is being celebrated by a number of events in this tercentenary of his death in 1723.
You can read more about these here and about the man himself here.
My friends at the Guildhall Art Galley have put on an exhibition entitled Wren at Work and I visited it on Sunday.
There you’ll find numerous facsimiles of drawings and plans, such as this one by Wren’s brilliant and trusted assistant Nicholas Hawksmoor …
Here are some of the other images I took …
The labels are very informative (even if you have to get down on your knees to read some of them!).
The artist / cartographer Adam Dant has created a specially commissioned map which describes aspects of Christopher Wren’s life and times and this is also on display …
Not surprisingly, St Paul’s Cathedral is also hosting an exhibition entitled Wren 300 – Innovation and Restoration.
The exhibition is in the Crypt so, if you want to see it, you must pay to enter the Cathedral. Before visiting it, I paid my respects to the great man at his tomb – a plain monument in a quiet corner …
‘Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you.’
Nearby …
A better image from the Cathedral website …
Here are some of my shots of the exhibition itself …
Wren is hauled up in a basket to inspect progress …
In a glass case you can see his ceremonial staff inscribed with his title ‘Surveyor to the Fabric’ (circa 1710) …
Along with his penknife and its case …
There is also a stonemason’s cap discovered during structural work in the 1920s …
A pair of dividers for measuring distance between two points on a plan or a map. Inscribed ‘Sir Christopher Wren, February 1697’ …
And alongside …
Faith Coghill, Wren’s first wife …
And a letter to her written by him …
Copy of a bust by Edward Pierce made about 1673 …
On my way home from the Guildhall Gallery I paused at St Lawrence Jewry to admire the lovely stained glass window that celebrates the great man himself along with Grinling Gibbons and Edward Strong …
You can read more about it and other stained glass masterpieces here.
Since this is a new Wrenaissance (!) why not treat yourself to a Walking Tour of his churches. More information can be found here on the City Guides Website.
If you would like to follow me on Instagram here is the link …
