The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London. Its dedication in honour of Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD The cathedral's reconstruction was part of a major rebuilding programme initiated in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London.
The cathedral is one of the most famous and recognisable sights of London. Its dome, surrounded by the spires of Wren's City churches, has dominated the skyline for over years. At ft m high, it was the tallest building in London from to The dome is still one of the highest in the world. St Paul's is the second-largest church building in area in the United Kingdom, after Liverpool Cathedral.
St Paul's Cathedral is the central subject of much promotional material, as well as of images of the dome surrounded by the smoke and fire of the Blitz. The location of Londinium 's original cathedral is unknown, but legend and medieval tradition claims it was St Peter upon Cornhill. St Paul is an unusual attribution for a cathedral, and suggests there was another one in the Roman period. It stands upon the highest point in the area of old Londinium, and it was given pre-eminence in medieval procession on account of the legends.
There is, however, no other reliable evidence and the location of the site on the Forum makes it difficult for it to fit the legendary stories. In , a large fifth-century building on Tower Hill was excavated, and has been claimed as a Roman basilica, possibly a cathedral, although this is speculative. The Elizabethan antiquarian William Camden argued that a temple to the goddess Diana had stood during Roman times on the site occupied by the medieval St Paul's Cathedral.
There is evidence for Christianity in London during the Roman period, but no firm evidence for the location of churches or a cathedral. None of that is considered credible by modern historians but, although the surviving text is problematic, either Bishop Restitutus or Adelphius at the Council of Arles seems to have come from Londinium. The fate of the first cathedral building is unknown.
