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London's
St Paul's unveils interior renovation
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The interior of one of London's most renowned
landmarks, St Paul's cathedral, has been given a multi-million pound facelift.
St Paul's, a site of Christian worship since 607 AD, has been obscured
by scaffolding for the last
four years during the 10.8 million pound renovation.
On Thursday its gleaming new look was unveiled, a key stage in an
overall 40 million pound renovation of architect Sir Christopher Wren's
masterpiece in time for its 300th anniversary in 2008.
"People can now see this building as it was first conceived and built," the Dean of St
Paul's Cathedral Dr John Moses told Reuters.
"I think just to see a building that's been part of the story of London
for 300 years looking today, cleaned, revived, restored and looking its
best, is fabulous."
Restorers cleaned thousands of metres of stonework, erecting and
dismantling scaffolding before daybreak throughout the four years so as
not to disturb the cathedral's day-to-day worship.
Dulled mosaics were cleaned
with cotton buds, and a latex-based "facemask" was applied
to the stonework and its centuries of London smog, although one panel was
left so visitors can see the difference.
"It had the effect of making the place gloomy when it shouldn't have
been," architect Martin Stancliff said of the grime. "It absorbed light
rather than reflected it."
Banker Robin Fleming funded the work on the interior but Sir Roger
Gibbs, chairman of the fundraising committee, stressed that more cash is
still needed to complete external work.
Of the 40 million pounds needed, 33 million has been raised so far.
The old St Paul's was destroyed in the great Fire of London in 1666.
Wren was commissioned to design the current building shortly
afterwards.
(Agencies) |
圣保羅大教堂是倫敦最負盛名的地標之一。目前，一項耗資幾千萬英鎊的內部翻修工程正在進行之中。
自公元607年以來，圣保羅大教堂就是基督教徒作禮拜之地。但是，在過去的四年時間里，人們對它進行了一項耗資1080萬英鎊的翻新工作。它的四周密密麻麻地豎起了腳手架，使得其真實面目變得朦朧起來。
本周四（6月9日），圣保羅大教堂的新面孔開始隱現出來。這是總耗資高達4000萬英鎊的整修計劃的一個關鍵階段。圣保羅大教堂由杰出的設計師克里斯托弗·列恩爵士設計重建，到2008年將迎來其落成300周年大典。
“現在人們所看到的圣保羅大教堂，和當初設計建造時一模一樣，” 圣保羅大教堂的主教約翰·摩西博士對路透社記者說。
“在我看來，這座建筑已經成為倫敦歷史的一部分了。在經歷了300年的風吹雨打之后，人們又把它擦拭一新，恢復其原貌，重現其輝煌。這可真讓人難以置信。”
修理工人把幾千米長的石廊清洗得干干凈凈，而且，在過去四年中，為了不打擾人們每日在教堂作禮拜，他們在晚上支起腳手架，又在拂曉時分把它們拆掉。
修理工人用棉球一點一點把灰暗的鑲嵌圖案擦洗干凈，還給石頭建筑上刷上了一層膠制“面罩”，以保護它不被幾個世紀沉淀下來的倫敦煙塵弄臟。不過，他們還是留下了一塊地方沒有清理，這樣游客們一眼就能看出清理前后的巨大差別。
“這些灰塵讓原本應該干凈漂亮的大教堂變得陰暗，它們吸收陽光，而不是反射陽光，”在談及教堂上厚厚的灰塵時，建筑師馬丁·斯坦科利夫這樣說。
銀行家羅賓·弗菜明為這座大教堂的內部整修提供了資金，但是籌資委員會主席羅杰·吉布斯一再強調，要完成對大教堂外部的修理，還需要大筆資金。
整個修理工程共需耗資4000萬英鎊，目前已籌集到3300萬。
原來的圣保羅大教堂1666年毀于倫敦的一場大火，之后不久，列恩就被委任設計建造了目前這座氣勢宏偉的建筑。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2005-06-14 09:34