When the Great Fire of 1666 destroyed London, scholar and architect Christopher Wren was asked to design a new cathedral to be erected from debris. His masterpiece was built with an equal amass of trials as stones. Wren’s first design drew inspiration from ancient Roman buildings of the emperors Constantine and Justinian, but was rejected.

A second design was also cast off because church authorities objected to the drawing’s “popish” dome that resembled the Basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome. In anger, Wren presented a third plan intended to illustrate an ungainly structure created from a fusion of his vision combined with church leaders’ wishes. This design, of course, was enthusiastically approved. Thankfully, King Charles II provided Wren the discretion he needed to fulfill his vision by granting him the right to make any necessary ornamental alterations to the plan as well as the authority to hire his own craftsmen. This empowerment allowed Wren to build what he wanted – a cathedral that deviated significantly from the approved plan but was universally admired.

Adding a touch of poetry to this artful architectural story, when Wren was about to begin building, he asked a work-man to get a stone from the rubble of the fire-devastated city to mark the center of the cathedral. The worker found a fragment of gravestone and placed it on the ground. It bore one word: “Resurgam” — “I Shall Rise Again.”

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