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Having recently visited The Painted Hall at The Old Royal Naval College I was keen to explore the historic grounds. And after being goaded by a tourist guide to walk down the length of a rather strange looking basement undercroft, I suddenly arrived into the doorway of the grand surroundings of The St Peter and St Paul Chapel. And it's actually the adjoining building next to The Painted Hall. The building was gutted by fire back in 1779. It was then rebuilt by James 'Athenian' Stuart in a neo-classical style and to this day is still an active Chapel with choral performances put on by local music and Dance students. For more information on The Chapel visit the official website... THE CHAPEL OF ST PETER AND ST PAUL. MY RECENT POSTING OF THE PAINTED HALL GREENWICH |
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Above: The Chapel organ created by Samuel Green, the finest organ maker of his day. It was built and fitted into position in 1798 and is amazingly still in use. |
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Above: The Undercroft which took me from The Painted Hall and straight to the adjoining building, The Chapel. |
Gorgeous photos, Dee! We visited several Christopher Wren churches in London - St. Paul's, of course (where we went to Sunday service) and then another Sunday we wandered into - I think it was St. Clement Danes(?) - and it turned out that that morning was the service in tribute to the RAF pilots who died in WW2. The service had already started but by the end of it we were all in tears - great sermon, great organ and choir, beautiful dignified service. And there were about 20 people in the congregation! Unforgettable service even if I'm not sure about the name of the church. It was heavily damaged in the war and restored beautifully. An old lady - who I did a portrait of - showed us around and could not have been nicer. Great experience!
ReplyDeleteTim, Sounds like a fine Church you visited. I'm guessing you visited around June when we celebrate our War anniversaries as we recently did on June 6th.
ReplyDeleteStrange how all the wonderful buildings I visit seem to have a connection with Christopher Wren.
Perhaps he was the Richard Rogers or the Frank Lloyd Wright of his day.
I recently discovered a spectacular Church setting that is virtually next door to The Victoria and Albert Museum. It's called The Brompton Oratory. Do look it up. It is spectacular, like something out of Italy. Hoping to visit there soon with pictures.
Glad you like these Chapel pictures. I almost forgot about them after posting up The Ceiling pictures.