St Sophia's Cathedral, London

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 (Sophia) of God (St Sophia in the vernacular) 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.HistoryThis was the third church to bear this name, the previous two having been outgrown by the population of the Orthodox community, which had been swelled by settlers from the Greek diaspora and visitors who came through the busy shipping routes that converged on London.St Sophia was commissioned by a committee presided over by Emmanuel Mavrocordato, assisted by Constantinos A lonidis, Sophoclis Constantinidis, Petros P. Rodocanachi, Paraskevas Sechiaris and Demetrios S. Schilizzi and the lawyer and traveller, Edwin Freshfield. The cost of £50,000 was raised in three years by the Greek community, including prosperous and influential London merchants and financiers. The first Liturgy was celebrated on 1 June 1879, 18 months after Eustratios Ralli laid the first stone. The cathedral recently opened a small museum to display some of the treasures donated to the cathedral by its 19th-century patrons and its links to London's Greek community.