Back Next St. Paul's Cathedral, London, England  

   

13 June 2005:  The magnificent dome of St. Paul's, among the highest in the world,
rises 365 ft. above the streets of London.  St. Paul's was designed by Sir Christopher Wren.

From http://www.mathsinthecity.com/sites/dome-st-pauls-cathedral-london

"One of Wren’s early sketches for the triple dome design, from around 1690, shows that he used a mathematical
curve to define the shape of the middle dome; the cubic curve y=x3 is clearly plotted on the axes marked on the design. 
The curve not only defines the shape of the middle dome but also the height and width of the surrounding abutments,
positioned so as to contain a continuation of the cubic curve to ground level...This sketch is one of the earliest
documented instances of  mathematical principles being used in architectural design."