Churchifications

By chance, two central London churches have recently had major interior refurbs, to restore them to their original glories. First up, the Roman Catholic church in Soho:

St Patrick's was first established in 1792, the first Roman Catholic church in England since the Reformation, but the present rather grand church on this site was built in the 1890s.

The interior is, now, extraordinarily shiny. It's actually wonderfully light. The floors have been paved in an extraordinarily lovely marble pattern.

Everywhere has been beautifully considered, including the angels guarding the entrance:

And the altar is topped by rather beautiful gold pannelling:

It's in stark contrast to our second church, a stone's throw away, St Martin in the Fields:

A century and a half older, St Martin's was designed by James Gibb in the 1720s and has become one of the most copied church designs in the world (it was exported to North America and built in bulk).

The interior here is stark English Protestantism, post-Baroque, all plain walled and whiteness with a bit of gilding here and there. And the modern interventions have been beautifully done -- I absolutely adore the main window over the altar:

The flat whiteness of the decor can conceal the richness of the design, unless you're prepared to really look:

Let's end here, with a delightful brass lamp which contains, if you look very carefully, a self-portrait...

Yeah, you're not going to get much detail from that, I'm afraid. Button up those prurient curiosities!