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wren's dome, and a henry moore altar

St Stephen Walbrook

FreeHidden gem
City of London · Bank
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Wren's most beautiful City church, free to enter, a serene domed interior often called a dry run for St Paul's, with a controversial round stone altar by Henry Moore at its centre.

Getting there. On Walbrook behind Mansion House, a minute from Bank station.
Free church
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City of London · Bank
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The lowdown

Hidden behind the Mansion House is what many consider Christopher Wren's finest City church, and it is free. St Stephen Walbrook is crowned by a graceful coffered dome that Wren built as a kind of trial run for the far larger one he would raise over St Paul's, and stepping inside the bright, balanced space is a quiet revelation.

At the very centre sits a large round altar carved by Henry Moore in pale travertine, nicknamed the Camembert when it was installed because of its shape. The contrast of Moore's smooth modern stone under Wren's seventeenth-century dome divided opinion and still makes the interior unlike any other church in the City.

It is also the birthplace of the Samaritans, founded here by a vicar in 1953, and a working church at the heart of the financial district. A free, calm, light-filled escape that almost no one outside the City knows to look for.

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The insider tip

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It is only open on weekdays, so it is one for a City lunch break rather than a weekend. Stand directly under the centre of the dome by the round Henry Moore altar for the full effect of Wren's geometry.
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