page_title: St Sophia's Cathedral, London
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: St Sophia's Cathedral, London / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: The interior of St Sophia's Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Paddington, London, England. Français&#160;: Vue intérieure de la cathédrale Sainte-Sophie, église grecque orthodoxe située dans le quartier de Bayswater, à Londres.
context_page_description: Saint Sophia Cathedral is a Greek Orthodox church on Moscow Road in the Bayswater area of London.
  It was consecrated as the Church of the Holy Wisdom on 5 February 1882 by Antonios, Metropolitan of Corfu, as a focus for the prosperous Greek community that had settled in London, particularly around Paddington, Bayswater and Notting Hill.
  Today, in addition to its regular Saturday and Sunday services, it hosts a Greek polyphonic choir, Byzantine music, and an associated school in which pupils discover the history and language of Greece and take Greek dancing lessons.
context_section_description: St Sophia is a Byzantine Revival design by architect John Oldrid Scott. Scott was responsible for many significant British churches, and was subsequently commissioned by Ralli to build St Stephen's Greek Orthodox Chapel in West Norwood Cemetery in 1873.
  From the outside the Cathedral appears relatively modest, only hinting at its style through the domed roof and arched windows. Inside it is elaborately decorated with polychromatic marble.
  The iconostasis (screen of icons) was painted by Ludwig Thiersch, who had studied religious painting in Athens. He had suggested that the walls were not decorated with frescos, because of the damp climate in London. Instead, the trustees commissioned Byzantine-inspired mosaics from G M Mercenero & Co, to the designs of A G Walker. From 1926 more mosaics were commissioned from Boris Anrep.
caption: The interior
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