The size of St Paul's Cathedral

St. Pauls isn't even the biggest church in the UK. That honor goes to Liverpool Cathedral.

There seem to be many different criteria used for these stats - overall length or height, length of nave, size of dome , area etc.

how is the analysis when comparing volume (cubic centimetres)?

Liverpool Cathedral is always cited as being the biggest in the UK. But end to end St Paul's feels a lot longer when walking it. You seem to be walking for ever. Whether it actually is I don't know. But it has that feel. But then York Minster also feels longer to me than Liverpool. Again I don't know the actual measurements.

Liverpool possibly has a lot more height to it, and possibly more undercroft/ crypt?
I think a lot of office space at Liverpool is underground as well?
As others have said it maybe how it's measured.

I was curious so did a bit of digging and found this response on Quora responding to a question asking which is Britain's largest cathedral:

Define largest? St Albans was the longest, but the modern Liverpool Cathedral is 188 m long. but St Albans was just a fraction longer than Winchester, Ely and Westminster Abbey at 156m. If by volume in M3 it would have to be the 450,000 m3 Liverpool Cathedral. However that only has 9,687 m2 of space for the congregation. St Pauls in London has a much more decorated 7,875 m2 inside. Followed by Westminster Cathedral, Winchester, and Ely…Lincoln, Westminster Abbey,

If its height, then St Bartholomew's Church in Brighton is a massive 41 m high nave , higher than the 35.4 m St Pauls Cathedral in London. If it is tall, Sailsbury Cathederal spire is the highest surviving medieval structure in Europe. Lincoln used to be the highest, but the 159m spire collapsed in 1539. Ulm Minster is now the tallest cathedral, at 161.5m. Massive spires on the Old St Pauls Cathederal and Malmesbury Abbey both disappeared in the 17 th century ( fire and Lightning strike) . the Cathederal of St Mary in Salisbury is just 121m tall, but has the largest church close surrounding it, at 80 acres.

Of course, following this response, there were quite a number of alternating theories. :-)

Mardee, leave it to you to dig deep! Thanks!

And thanks to all for the responses.

Rick makes the same statement in his London guidebook. And this raises a concerning thought for me. I think it is critically important for tour guides and guidebook authors to be impeccable in their research, because one error can make you doubt everything else they say or write. As someone who has paid close attention and given a lot of respect to Rick through his TV shows and guidebooks, I'm disappointed to find him making a clearly inaccurate statement like this. Words like "biggest," "oldest," or "tallest" should be used very carefully. Next time I read something like that in one of his guidebooks, I won't believe it.

I don't know, maybe I shouldn't make such a big deal of it. But I've been on tours where things were said that were clearly incorrect, and then for the rest of the tour I sort of tune out because I don't know if I can trust what they're saying. I come from an academic background, and in that world, even one small inaccuracy can discredit an author and ruin their reputation.

That's why I was hoping someone could offer some context for this statement that would make it true.

I've just listened to the start of the tour.

Rick says 4th largest based on dimensions of 515 feet long x 250 feet wide including transepts.

If those are internal dimensions it exceeds Liverpool in length at 160 yards (480 feet). The width of the nave of Liverpool is 116 feet. I can't immediately find the transepts but they are not hugely deep.

That well known scion of (in) accuracy, Wikipedia, gives 518x 246 for St Paul's.

Now you would need the internal dims for every other church on the list, which is way beyond my pay grade!

But that is the context of Rick's claim. So on that basis St Paul's seemingly at least exceeds Liverpool.

I'm choosing my wording very, very carefully here.

I don't know, maybe I shouldn't make such a big deal of it. But I've been on tours where things were said that were clearly incorrect, and then for the rest of the tour I sort of tune out because I don't know if I can trust what they're saying. I come from an academic background, and in that world, even one small inaccuracy can discredit an author and ruin their reputation.

Lane, I agree. I value accuracy as well, and it's very annoying when you find out something is not true. So I found the audio guide and also found that you can access a transcript on the phone app, which made it easier to scroll through. :-)

Rick did say that St. Paul was the 4th largest cathedral in Europe, and he states that based on a measurement of it being 515 ft. long and 250 ft. wide (I'm assuming since he mentions it at the same time). He also mentioned a bit later that it was 365 ft. high.

Here is the one site gives St. Paul's total measurements, which pretty much match Rick's although it gives some clarity to it.

Cathedral length: 518 ft., 158 m
Nave width: 121 ft., 37 m
Width across transepts: 246 ft., 75 m
Cathedral height: 365 ft., 111 m
Outer dome height: 278 ft., 85 m
Inner dome height: 225 ft., 69 m
Outer dome diameter: 112 ft., 34 m
Inner dome diameter: 102 ft., 31 m
Dome weight: 65,000 tons
Number of towers: 2
Tower height: 221 ft., 67 m
Interior area: approximately 7,875 m² (about 85,800 ft²) .

However, based on the interior area, it falls short a bit:

St Peter’s Basilica (Vatican City) – 15,160 m²
Milan Cathedral – 11,700 m²
Seville Cathedral – 11,500 m²
Basilica of Our Lady of Licheń (Poland) – 10,090 m²
Liverpool Cathedral – ~9,687 m² (the largest in the UK)
Abbey of Santa Giustina (Italy) – ~9,717 m²

According to several sites, size rankings usually use the interior floor area, and so by that measure, many larger cathedrals would be considered larger than St. Paul's (see above chart).

That said, Rick Steves is probably using length and/or width.

If you use length only, St. Paul's comes in 4th largest:

1 St. Peter’s Basilica: 730 ft 222 m

2 Liverpool Cathedral: Liverpool, UK 620 ft 189 m

3 Milan Cathedral: Milan, Italy 520 ft 158 m

4 St. Paul’s Cathedral: London, UK 515 ft 157 m

5 Florence Cathedral: Florence, Italy 502 ft 153 m

If you use width only, then:

1 St. Peter’s Basilica Vatican City ~500 ft ~152 m

2 Milan Cathedral Milan, Italy ~302 ft ~92 m

3 Florence Cathedral Florence, Italy ~300 ft ~91 m

4 Liverpool Cathedral Liverpool, UK ~300 ft ~91 m

5 Basilica of Our Lady of Licheń Licheń, Poland ~260 ft ~79 m

6 Cologne Cathedral Cologne, Germany ~280 ft ~85 m

7 Seville Cathedral Seville, Spain ~249 ft ~76 m

8 St. Paul’s Cathedral London, UK 250 ft 76 m

At width alone, it comes in 8th.

So really, there is only one measurement that makes it the 4th largest and that would be the length of it. Definitely not width and definitely not interior area (which is the common measurement used for total size, and what Wikipedia uses, FYI). I do think that Rick Steves should probably clarify that statement by saying that St. Paul's is the 4th longest cathedral in Europe, rather than 4th largest.

I think I have way too much time on my hands...

haha perhaps, however, I appreciate your research and interpretation of the results! I tend to deep dive when I want to understand something as well (it’s that time on the hands thing …).

in any event, it is quite large. If you didn't have the measuring tape out you might say, that's a big'un

I wonder if there’s a list of what churches charge the most for admission as tourist attractions?

mln, I'm glad you understand. :-)

Nigel, it is a big'un! Maybe I need to start carrying a measuring tape with me. But I'd probably wind up killing myself reaching up to the high places.

Cyn, don't DO that to me! :-) I now know that Westminster charges the highest fee in Europe. In fact, the UK in general charges the highest fees for cathedrals (and I included Westminster Abbey in that). The fees below are all the base fees. Most of them charge more for access to towers, tours, audio guides, etc.

Westminster Abbey £30 (€35)
Sagrada Família (Barcelona) €26
St Paul’s £25 (€29)
York Minster £20 (€23)

I did just read that the French president proposed a €5 entrance fee for Notre Dame in the future. I can understand the need for it, but I imagine that will raise an outcry.

Of the 43 English Church of England cathedrals 11 charge -
Lincoln (free after 4pm) £12.50, or £10.50 Sunday
Salisbury £11 in advance, £13 on site
Winchester £13 in advance, £14 on site
York
Ely £14, free before 9.30 am and after 4.30pm
Exeter £10, £8 for seniors
Wells (free after 4.30pm) £15, £20 joint ticket with the Bishop's Palace
Christ Church Oxford £20 to £24 with senior concessions, varies by season and day of the week.
Canterbury (free to Pilgrims on the Camino or others with a £6.50 Pilgrim Passport or residents of the Cathedral Guest House)
Westminster Abbey
St Paul's

many if not most of the free ones have chargeable add ons