Dome

View looking up, showing where the dome springs from multiple pendentives; The current church was built by Sir Christopher Wren, following the 15th century building's destruction in the Great Fire. The 63 feet high dome is based on Wren's original design for St. Paul’s, and this is centered over a square of twelve columns. The circular base of the dome is not carried, in the conventional way, by pendentives formed above the arches of the square, but on a circle formed by eight arches that spring from eight of the twelve columns, cutting across each corner in the manner of the Byzantine squinch. This all contributes to create what many consider to be one of Wren's finest church interiors. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner lists it as one of the ten most important buildings in England. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 6/14/2009)