St Martin-in-the-Fields

James Gibbs’s church, with its portico and steeple, served as a model for many churches in North America. Inside, the modern east window stands out: a warped grid of glass and light instead of coloured saints. The church is known for its concerts, often short and inexpensive at lunchtime and by candlelight in the evening. If you have time before the café, sit in the pews for a few minutes, right in the bustle of the square.

Background

St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Dedicated in honour of Saint Martin of Tours, there has been a church on the site since at least the medieval period. This location, at that time, was farmlands and fields beyond the London wall. St Martin's became a principal parish church west of the old City in the early modern period as Westminster's population grew. When its medieval and Jacobean structure was found to be near failure, the present building was constructed in an influential neoclassical design by James Gibbs in 1722–1726. The church is one of the visual anchors adding to the open-urban space around Trafalgar Square.

From Wikipedia: “St Martin-in-the-Fields”, licence CC BY-SA 4.0