There is, however, another great building in London that does have a dome like our Capitol. But that building is a church and it is called St. Paul’s. Indeed, it is said that the dome of our Capitol at Washington was copied from St. Paul’s, for St. Paul’s was built long before there was a Capitol at Washington, long before there was a Washington, and even long before there was a United States. They once had a great fire in London—they still call it the Great Fire, for it burned up most of the city. That was about three hundred years ago. Then a man with the name of a bird, Wren—Christopher Wren—built up much of the city that had been burned down. He built beautiful churches and other buildings; so people say it was well the old city was burned down, for it gave them the chance to make a beautiful city. St. Paul’s was one of the churches that Wren built.

During World War II thousands of buildings were destroyed by bombs dropped on London by the Germans. Many of Christopher Wren’s churches were among the buildings burned or smashed by the bombs, but he had built so many that there are still some left. The people of London called these terrible bombings the Blitz. Great numbers of people were killed. The Blitz will be remembered, like the Great Fire, for hundreds of years to come, but no one can ever say, as they said about the Great Fire, that it was a good thing for the city. The only good thing about the Blitz was the bravery shown by the people of London.

A church that Wren didn’t build, a very old one, is called Westminster Abbey. Westminster Abbey is not only a church; it is also a tomb for famous people. In it are buried the most famous English people who have ever lived and died-kings and queens, great writers, great poets, great musicians, great soldiers. After World War I a soldier who had died on the battlefield in France, but whose name no one knew, was buried in Westminster Abbey to honor all those who had died without name or fame for a great cause. The place is called the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

In Westminster Abbey is a chair in which all the kings of England sit when they are crowned kings. It is called the Coronation Chair. Underneath the seat of the Coronation Chair is a large stone. Why the stone underneath the chair seat? Well, hundreds of years ago the country North of England named Scotland was separate from England. When the kings of Scotland were crowned they used a large stone for a seat. So when England and Scotland became one country, the people took the stone of Scotland and put it under the Coronation Chair of England, so that the king could sit on both seats while he was crowned king of both countries.