The DOME, the inner cupola of which is 218 feet above the pavement, rests upon twelve massive supports, of which the four chief ones, at the angles, afford room in their interiors for the vestries and the library staircase. The keystones of the great arches between these measure 7 feet by 5 feet. In the spandrels of the dome are mosaics executed by Salviati of Venice. Those on the west, designed by Alfred Stevens and partly executed by W. E. F. Britten, represent (from south to north) Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel; the others represent SS. Matthew and John (by G. F. Watts) and SS. Mark and Luke (by Britten). In the quarter-domes, at a lower level, are more recent mosaics by Sir W. B. Richmond (died 1921); Crucifixion (north east), Resurrection (south east), Entombment (south west), Ascension (north west). Above the arches, 100 feet from the pavement, is the Whispering Gallery, above which again is a podium with twenty-four squareheaded windows and eight recesses with marble statues of the Fathers of the Church. The dome, above, was decorated by Sir James Thornhill with eight scenes in monochrome from the life of St. Paul. A slab in the floor covers the aperture through which coffins are lowered into the crypt.
