St Paul's Cathedral

Where God watches over his faithful, though the Devil may sell them a tome

Neither the first cathedral in London, nor the first to bear the name of Saint Paul, this domed church at the top of Ludgate Hill carries with it the ghosts of much of London - the Great Fire, Christopher Wren, Admiral Nelson, the Duke of Wellington. All these events and people, and hundreds more besides, seep into the stone.
But there is a story. In 1666, when all of London was burning, some of the most panicked were the booksellers who plied their trade from carts in the churchyard. As the inferno closed in on them, they hid their paper wares in the church's vault, hoping to save them from the fire. But all for naught - opening the vault door sent a rush of air, which turned that holy structure into the mouth of hell, and a conflagration for the ages took everything.
The story continues - on certain nights, if you know the right password, and the right ear to whisper it into, the new St Paul's hosts, ironically, an auction by the Devil himself, where he sells the books claimed by the fire back to the living, using the disaster of 270 years ago to stoke new fires of doom in the modern 1930's.

Purpose / Function

St Paul's is the mother church of the diocese of London and the seat of the Bishop of London. It is a world-famous tourist attraction, and one of the most recognizable parts of the London skyline. It is also a working church, with services daily.

Architecture

Wren's fourth suggested design for the building - a one-and-a-half story structure built on a longitudinal cross, like those in Catholic cathedrals - was the one that received the royal Warrant for reconstruction. Wren, however, received permission to make "ornamental changes," and used this to "ornamentally" add nearly another half a story, as well as expanding the dome to the massive structure that is so recognizable today.

History

This is, if the histories are to be believed, the fifth St Paul's Cathedral. The fourth St Paul's, referred to as Old St Paul's was built in the 11th century, and survived all the way to the 17th, when, in 1666, the Great Fire of London damaged it badly.
So badly, in fact, that initial attempts to repair the church had to be abandoned, and Sir Christopher Wren designed and built an entirely new church on the site.

Type

Cathedral / Great temple