St Paul's Cathedral

Right here is a magnificent dome rising from Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City, where one of the most iconic buildings in the world has stood since 1710. St Paul's Cathedral is a masterpiece designed by architect Christopher Wren in English Baroque style, taking 35 years to build after the Great Fire of 1666 destroyed the previous medieval cathedral. What happened here during World War II reveals the true story behind its survival.

On the night of December 29, 1940, this building became the target of 28 incendiary bombs during the deadliest air raid of the Blitz. The cathedral suffered two direct hits from high explosives that year, one destroying the high altar on October 10 and another blasting through the North Transept roof in April 1941. The building's survival depended entirely on over 300 volunteers known as the St Paul's Watch. These men and women worked in shifts every night throughout the war, crawling along burning roof beams with stirrup pumps and sand buckets.

They had only 10 minutes to extinguish each bomb before it could burn through the timber structure. Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered that St Paul's must be saved at all costs. When photographer Herbert Mason captured the dome glowing through flames and smoke from the roof of the Daily Mail building nearby, his photograph became the most powerful symbol of British resistance during the war.