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St Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street

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58-565: St. Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street was a church in Castle Baynard ward of the City of London , England, located on the corner of Old Fish Street and Old Change, on land now covered by post-War development. Recorded since the 12th century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666, then rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren . The rebuilt church suffered damage to its roof from

116-530: A complex and extravagant building. Therefore, it is believed that construction was begun by Mausolus before his death or continued by the next leaders. The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus resembled a temple and the only way to tell the difference was its slightly higher outer walls. The Mausoleum was in the Greek-dominated area of Halicarnassus, which in 353 was controlled by the Achaemenid Empire . According to

174-644: A dominant position on rising ground above the harbor. A jar in calcite or alabaster , an alabastron , with the quadrilingual signature of Achaemenid ruler Xerxes I (ruled 486–465 BC) was discovered in the ruins of the Mausoleum, at the foot of the western staircase. The vase contains an inscription in Old Persian , Egyptian, Babylonian, and Elamite: 𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 𐏐 𐏋 𐏐 𐎺𐏀𐎼𐎣 ( Xšayāršā : XŠ : vazraka ) "Xerxes : The Great King." Such jars, of Egyptian origin, were very precious to

232-432: A door under the western window on the south front. The roof was balustraded . The tower was erected next to the north-western wall of the church and stood 86 ft. high. This had a stone spire, consisting of an octagonal pyramid of five steps, on which sat an open octagonal lantern from which emerged a concave steeple. The finial was in the form of an urn, in allusion to St Mary Magdalen's pot of balm. The inspiration for

290-506: A fire in an adjacent warehouse in 1886. It was not repaired and was finally demolished in 1893. St. Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street was the only one of the eight churches in the post- Fire City of London named "St. Mary" to be dedicated to the penitent Mary Magdalene rather than the Virgin Mary . Old Fish Street formerly ran from the Thames towards St. Paul's Cathedral and was the location of

348-532: A fish market since medieval times. The street was incorporated into Knightrider Street in 1872. The earliest surviving reference to the church is in a document of 1181, as "St Mary Magdalen". Other medieval records refer to the church as " St. Marie Magdal in Piscaria apud sanctum Paulum ", "St. Marie Magdal parish at the Fishmarket", "St. Marie Magdalen Eldefisshestrete" and "St. Mary Magdalen at Lamberdyshel". Among

406-461: A form of sacrifice , the bodies of a large number of dead animals were placed on the stairs leading to the tomb, and then the stairs were filled with stones and rubble, sealing the access. According to the historian Pliny the Elder , the craftsmen decided to stay and finish the work after the death of their patron "considering that it was at once a memorial of his own fame and of the sculptor's art''. It

464-669: A new dock in Malta for the Royal Navy . Today this dock is known as Dock No. 1 in Cospicua , but the building blocks are hidden from view, submerged in Dockyard Creek in the Grand Harbour . From 1966 to 1977, the Mausoleum was thoroughly researched by Kristian Jeppesen of Aarhus University , Denmark. He has produced a six-volume monograph, The Maussolleion at Halikarnassos . The beauty of

522-462: A territory Mausolus had invaded and annexed c.  360 BC , such as the Nereid Monument . The Mausoleum was approximately 45 m (148 ft) in height, and the four sides were adorned with sculptural reliefs , each created by one of four Greek sculptors: Leochares , Bryaxis , Scopas of Paros , and Timotheus . The Mausoleum contained 400 freestanding sculptures. The mausoleum

580-535: A tuning fork, bounded on the east by the wards of Queenhithe and Bread Street ; the ward of Farringdon Without to the north and west; the ward of Farringdon Within to the north; and by the River Thames to the south. Major landmarks within the ward include Blackfriars Bridge (the full span of which falls within the City and this ward), the naval establishment HMS President , and St Paul's Cathedral . In addition,

638-470: Is busy and an exceptionally concentrated area of commercial and tourist activity, but still retains its own distinct identity. Castle Baynard derives its name from Baynard's Castle , which existed there from the Norman Conquest until it burnt down during the Great Fire of London in 1666. It was anciently spelled as one word — Castlebaynard — but this is regarded today as incorrect. Castle Baynard

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696-441: Is largely considered corrupt and is of little importance. We learn from Vitruvius that Satyros and Phytheus wrote a description of their work which Pliny likely read. Pliny likely wrote down these dimensions without thinking about the form of the building. Many statues were found slightly larger than life-size, either 1.5 metres (5 ft). or 1.60 metres (5.25 ft). in length; these were 20 lion statues. Another important find

754-545: Is likely that Mausolus started to plan the tomb before his death, as part of the building works in Halicarnassus, so that when he died, Artemisia continued the building project. Artemisia spared no expense in building the tomb. She sent messengers to Greece to find the most talented artists of the time. These included Scopas, the man who had supervised the rebuilding of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus . The famous sculptors were (in

812-542: Is one of 25 wards in the City of London, each electing an Alderman to the Court of Aldermen and Commoners (the City equivalent of a Councillor ) to the Court of Common Council of the City of London Corporation . Only electors who are Freemen of the City of London are eligible to stand. Ian Luder is the current Alderman representing the ward, and Martha Grekos, Henrika Priest, Mary Durcan, Alpa Raja, Graham Packham, Catherine McGuinness , John Griffiths and Glen Witney are

870-1092: The Civil Courts Building in St. Louis ; the National Newark Building in Newark, New Jersey ; Grant's Tomb and 26 Broadway in New York City; Los Angeles City Hall ; the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne; the spire of St. George's Church, Bloomsbury in London; the Indiana War Memorial (and in turn Salesforce Tower ) in Indianapolis; the House of the Temple in Washington D.C.;

928-560: The Mermaid Theatre , on the site of Curriers' Alley and Puddle Dock , lies within the ward's catchment area. The north-bank entrance of Blackfriars station , the only London station to span the Thames, also lies within Castle Baynard. Boundary changes in 2003 expanded the ward considerably into the traditional area of the two Farringdon wards, though a small amount of territory was lost to Queenhithe ward. Today, Castle Baynard

986-541: The Ottoman Empire . During the fortification work, a party of knights entered the base of the monument and discovered the room containing a great coffin. In many histories of the Mausoleum one can find the following story of what happened: the party, deciding it was too late to open it that day, returned the next morning to find the tomb, and any treasure it may have contained, plundered. The bodies of Mausolus and Artemisia were missing too. The small museum building next to

1044-534: The Vitruvius order): Leochares, Bryaxis, Scopas, and Timotheus, as well as hundreds of other craftsmen. The tomb was erected on a hill overlooking the city. The whole structure sat in an enclosed courtyard . At the center of the courtyard was a stone platform on which the tomb sat. A stairway flanked by stone lions led to the top of the platform, which bore along its outer walls many statues of gods and goddesses. At each corner, stone warriors mounted on horseback guarded

1102-506: The 12th century on his commentary of the Iliad , says "it was and is a wonder". Because of this, Fergusson concluded that the building was ruined, probably by an earthquake, between this period and 1402, when the Knights of St John of Jerusalem arrived and recorded that it was in ruins. However, Luttrell notes that at that time, the local Greeks and Turks had no name for – or legends to account for –

1160-452: The 19th century were the foundations and some broken sculptures. This site was originally indicated by Professor Donaldson and was discovered definitively by Charles Newton, after which an expedition was sent by the British government. The expedition lasted three years and ended in the sending of the remaining marbles. At some point before or after this, grave robbers broke into and destroyed

1218-575: The Achaemenid Empire. Much of the information that has been gathered about the Mausoleum and its structure has come from the Roman polymath Pliny the Elder . He wrote some basic facts about the architecture and some dimensions. The building was rectangular, not square, surrounded by a colonnade of thirty-six columns. There was a pyramidal superstructure receding in twenty-four steps to the summit. On top there were 4 horse chariots of marble. The building

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1276-638: The Achaemenids, and may therefore have been offered by Xerxes to Carian rulers, and then kept as a precious object. In particular, the precious jar may have been offered by Xerxes to the Carian dynast Artemisia I , who had acted with merit as his only female Admiral during the Second Persian invasion of Greece , and particularly at the Battle of Salamis . The jar testifies to the close contacts between Carian rulers and

1334-997: The Common Councilmen. In October 2018, the Labour Party won its sixth seat on the Common Council in Castle Baynard when the local resident Natasha Lloyd-Owen ( now Cripplegate) topped the polls for Labour in an unexpected by-election victory. Labour had previously won a record total of five seats on the Common Council in March 2017 winning two seats in Portsoken , two seats in Cripplegate ward and one seat in Aldersgate ward. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus or Tomb of Mausolus ( Ancient Greek : Μαυσωλεῖον τῆς Ἁλικαρνασσοῦ ; Turkish : Halikarnas Mozolesi )

1392-562: The Great ), Idrieus , and Pixodarus . Mausolus extended his territory as far as the southwest coast of Anatolia, invading, in particular, the territory of Lycia , remarkable for its numerous monumental tombs such as the Tombs at Xanthos , from which he took his inspiration for his mausoleum. Artemisia and Mausolus ruled from Halicarnassus over the surrounding territory for 24 years. Mausolus, although descended from local people, spoke Greek and admired

1450-539: The Greek way of life and government. He founded many cities of Greek design along the coast and encouraged Greek democratic traditions. Mausolus decided to build a new capital, one as safe from capture as it was magnificent to be seen. He chose the city of Halicarnassus. Artemisia and Mausolus spent huge amounts of tax money to embellish the city. They commissioned statues, temples and buildings of gleaming marble . In 353 BC, Mausolus died, leaving Artemisia to rule alone. As

1508-514: The Mausoleum holds a special place in history, as it was not dedicated to the gods of Ancient Greece. Today, the massive castle of the Knights Hospitaller (Knights of St. John) still stands in Bodrum, and the polished stone and marble blocks of the Mausoleum can be spotted built into the walls of the structure. At the site of the Mausoleum, only the foundation remains, and a small museum. Some of

1566-404: The Mausoleum was not only in the structure itself, but in the decorations and statues that adorned the outside at different levels on the podium and the roof: statues of people, lions, horses, and other animals in varying scales. The four Greek sculptors who carved the statues: Bryaxis, Leochares, Scopas and Timotheus were each responsible for one side. Because the statues were of people and animals,

1624-415: The Mausoleum. He had a difficult job. He did not know the exact location of the tomb, and the cost of buying up all the small parcels of land in the area to look for it would have been astronomical. Instead, Newton studied the accounts of ancient writers like Pliny to obtain the approximate size and location of the memorial, then bought a plot of land in the most likely location. Digging down, Newton explored

1682-516: The Persian satrap, and as the Hecatomnid dynast, Mausolus had planned for himself an elaborate tomb. When he died the project was continued by his siblings. The tomb became so famous that Mausolus's name is now the eponym for all stately tombs, in the word mausoleum . Artemisia lived for only two years after the death of her husband. The urns with their ashes were placed in the yet unfinished tomb. As

1740-456: The Roman architect Vitruvius , it was built by Satyros and Pytheus who wrote a treatise about it; this treatise is now lost. Pausanias adds that the Romans considered the Mausoleum one of the greatest wonders of the world and it was for that reason that they called all their magnificent tombs mausolea, after it. It is unknown exactly when and how the Mausoleum came to ruin: Eustathius , writing in

1798-535: The area includes the churches of St Bride's , which the Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman described as "magnificent, even by the exalted standards of Sir Christopher Wren ", and St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe . The ward formerly also included the Church of St Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street , which burned down in 1886 and was not rebuilt, and its own charitable foundation, Castle Baynard Ward School. Today

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1856-453: The base of the Mausoleum was still recognizable. The Knights of St John of Rhodes invaded the region and built Bodrum Castle ( Castle of Saint Peter ). When they decided to fortify it in 1494, they used the stones of the Mausoleum. This is also about when "imaginative reconstructions" of the Mausoleum began to appear. In 1522, rumours of a Turkish invasion caused the Crusaders to strengthen

1914-525: The castle at Halicarnassus (which was by then known as Bodrum) and much of the remaining portions of the tomb were broken up and used in the castle walls. Sections of polished marble from the tomb can still be seen there today. Suleiman the Magnificent conquered the base of the knights on the island of Rhodes, who then relocated first briefly to Sicily and later permanently to Malta, leaving the Castle and Bodrum to

1972-481: The church was insured and repairable, the event took place during a period in which several undamaged churches in the City of London were being demolished under the Union of Benefices Act 1860 . The opportunity was taken to pull down St. Mary Magdalen's and combine the parish with that of St Martin, Ludgate , which received some of the furnishings from the demolished church. The site previously occupied by St. Mary Magdalen's

2030-431: The colossal ruins, suggesting a destruction at a much earlier period. Many of the stones from the ruins were used by the knights to fortify their castle at Bodrum ; they also recovered bas-reliefs with which they decorated the new building. Much of the marble was burned into lime. In 1846, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe obtained permission to remove these reliefs from the castle. At the original site, all that remained by

2088-477: The height. Standing between each pair of columns was a statue. Behind the columns was a solid cella -like block that carried the weight of the tomb's massive roof. The roof, which comprised most of the final third of the height, was pyramidal . Perched on the top was a quadriga : four massive horses pulling a chariot in which rode images of Mausolus and Artemisia. Modern historians have pointed out that two years would not be enough time to decorate and build such

2146-407: The mausoleum's art. The Mausoleum overlooked the city of Halicarnassus for many years. It was untouched when the city fell to Alexander the Great in 334 BC and still undamaged after attacks by pirates in 62 and 58 BC. It stood above the city's ruins for sixteen centuries. Then a series of earthquakes shattered the columns and sent the bronze chariot crashing to the ground. By AD 1404, only

2204-551: The memorials in the pre-Fire church was a brass plaque of 1586, commemorating the merchant and benefactor, Thomas Berrie. The plaque survived the Great Fire and may now be seen in St Martin, Ludgate . In part it reads: St Martin, Ludgate, also has the bread shelves from St. Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street. On Easter Day 1653, John Evelyn recorded in his Diary that he and his family received Holy Communion at St. Mary Magdalen's. This

2262-402: The north wall tapering slightly towards the east. The two street frontages – to the east on Old Fish Street and to the south on Old Change – were faced with Portland stone . Underneath, the material was stone rubble. There were four large round-headed windows on the south, and three similar windows on the east, each window flanked by pilasters capped by volutes . Entry to the church was through

2320-414: The puzzle. Other writings by Pausanias, Strabo, and Vitruvius also help us to gather more information about the Mausoleum. According to Pliny, the mausoleum was 19 metres (63 ft) north and south, shorter on other fronts, 125 metres (411 ft) perimeter, and 25 cubits (11.4 metres or 37.5 feet) in height. It was surrounded by 36 columns. They called this part the pteron . Above the pteron there

2378-587: The remaining sculpture of the Mausoleum into lime for plaster, the Knights removed several of the best works and mounted them in the Bodrum castle. There they stayed for three centuries. In the 19th century, a British consul stole several of the statues from Bodrum Castle; these now reside in the British Museum . In 1852, the British Museum sent the archaeologist Charles Thomas Newton to search for more remains of

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2436-440: The site of the Mausoleum tells the story. Research done by archeologists in the 1960s shows that long before the knights came, grave robbers had dug a tunnel under the grave chamber, stealing its contents. Also, the museum states that it is most likely that Mausolus and Artemisia were cremated, so only an urn with their ashes was placed in the grave chamber. This explains why no bodies were found. Before grinding and burning much of

2494-555: The spire's design was the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus , in modern-day Turkey. The organ by Samuel Green was installed in 1786. It was rebuilt in 1857 by Gray and Davison . 51°30′45″N 0°5′51″W  /  51.51250°N 0.09750°W  / 51.51250; -0.09750 Castle Baynard Castle Baynard is one of the 25 wards of the City of London , the historic and financial centre of London , England. The ward covers an irregularly shaped area, sometimes likened to

2552-482: The statues' original placements are only known through historical accounts. The great figures of Mausolus and Artemisia stood in the chariot at the top of the pyramid. The detached equestrian groups are placed at the corners of the sub-podium. The semi-colossal female heads may have belonged to the acroteria of the two gables which may have represented the six Carian towns incorporated in Halicarnassus. Work still continues today as groups continue to excavate and research

2610-416: The surrounding area through tunnels he dug under the surrounding plots. He was able to locate some walls, a staircase, and finally three of the corners of the foundation. With this knowledge, Newton was able to determine which plots of land he needed to buy. Newton then excavated the site and found sections of the reliefs that decorated the wall of the building and portions of the stepped roof. Also discovered

2668-604: The surviving sculptures at the British Museum include fragments of statues and many slabs of the frieze showing the battle between the Greeks and the Amazons . There the images of Mausolus and his queen watch over the few broken remains of the beautiful tomb she built for him. Modern buildings whose designs were based upon or influenced by interpretations of the design of the Mausoleum of Mausolus include Fourth and Vine Tower in Cincinnati ;

2726-541: The tomb. At the center of the platform, the marble tomb rose as a square tapering block to one-third of the Mausoleum's 45 m (148 ft) height. This section was covered with bas-reliefs showing action scenes, including the battle of the centaurs with the lapiths and Greeks in combat during the Amazonomachy . On the top of this section of the tomb thirty-six slim columns, ten per side, with each corner sharing one column between two sides; rose for another third of

2784-435: The underground burial chamber, but in 1972, there was still enough of it remaining to determine a layout of the chambers when they were excavated. This monument was ranked the seventh wonder of the world by the ancients, not because of its size or strength but because of the beauty of its design and how it was decorated with sculpture or ornaments. The mausoleum was Halicarnassus's principal architectural monument, standing in

2842-449: Was a broken stone chariot wheel some 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in diameter, which came from the sculpture on the Mausoleum's roof. Finally, he found the statues of Mausolus and Artemisia that had stood at the pinnacle of the building. In October 1857, Newton carried blocks of marble from this site by HMS  Supply and landed them in Malta . These blocks were used for the construction of

2900-462: Was a pyramid on top with 24 steps and equal in height to the lower part. The height of the building was 43 metres (140 ft). The only other author that gives the dimensions of the Mausoleum is Hyginus, a grammarian in the time of Augustus. He describes the monument as built with shining stones, 24 metres (80 ft) high and 410 metres (1,340 ft) in circumference. He likely meant cubits which would match Pliny's dimensions exactly but this text

2958-572: Was a tomb built between 353 and 351 BC in Halicarnassus (present Bodrum , Turkey ) for Mausolus , an Anatolian from Caria and a satrap in the Achaemenid Persian Empire , and his sister-wife Artemisia II of Caria . The structure was designed by the Greek architects Satyros and Pythius of Priene . Its elevated tomb structure is derived from the tombs of neighbouring Lycia ,

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3016-423: Was accented with both sculptural friezes and free-standing figures. "The free standing figures were arranged on 5 or 6 different levels." We are now able to justify that Pliny's knowledge came from a work written by the architect. It is clear that Pliny did not grasp the design of the mausoleum fully which creates problems in recreating the structure. He does state many facts which help the reader recreate pieces of

3074-527: Was built over after the Second World War , and is now covered by Old Change Square. The parish still retains a clerkship, which is now in the gift of St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe . The church is the subject of a poem by John Betjeman , where the narrator is the Rector's warden. He refers to Wren's design as "a box with a fanciful plaster ceiling". The plan for St. Mary Magdalen's was roughly rectangular, with

3132-481: Was by Edward Strong the Elder . Between 1824 and 1842, the rector of St. Mary Magdalen's was the Reverend Richard Harris Barham , author of The Ingoldsby Legends . He was buried in the church in 1845. On the morning of Thursday, 2 December 1886, a fire broke out in a warehouse in what by this time was called Knightrider Street and spread to the church's roof, causing substantial damage. Although

3190-456: Was considered to be such an aesthetic triumph that Antipater of Sidon identified it as one of his Seven Wonders of the Ancient World . It was destroyed by successive earthquakes from the 12th to the 15th century; it was the last surviving of the six destroyed wonders. The word mausoleum has now come to be used generically for an above-ground tomb. In the 4th century BC, Halicarnassus

3248-476: Was during the Protectorate when Anglican services were banned. The church was destroyed in the Great Fire in 1666 and the parish combined with that of St Gregory by St Paul's , which was not rebuilt. Building of the new church began in 1683, with new foundations for the north wall and tower, but incorporating some of the old walls elsewhere. The work was completed in 1687 at a total cost of £4315. The construction

3306-534: Was the capital of the small regional kingdom of Caria , within the Achaemenid Empire on the western coast of Asia Minor . In 377 BC, the nominal ruler of the region, Hecatomnus of Milas , died and left control of the kingdom to his son, Mausolus. Hecatomnus, a local dynast under the Persians, took control of several of the neighboring cities and districts. After Artemisia and Mausolus, he had several other daughters and sons: Ada (adoptive mother of Alexander

3364-462: Was the depth on the rock on which the building stood. This rock was excavated to 2.4 or 2.7 metres (8 or 9 ft) deep over an area 33 by 39 metres (107 by 127 ft). The sculptures on the north were created by Scopas, the ones on the east Bryaxis, on the south Timotheus and on the west Leochares. The Mausoleum was adorned with many great and beautiful sculptures. Some of these sculptures have been lost or only fragments have been found. Several of

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