Evensong at St. Paul's
 

We will be making a rather brief, first time visit to London in the fall. My husband would like to visit St. Paul's. I am thinking that we might enjoy attending Evensong instead of the full, rather pricey visit. We have toured other cathedrals and the Vatican / St. Peter's and I fear I can no longer do the climb the dome physical challenge. We are Christians and enjoy music so it seems like this would give us the opportunity to get a least a little appreciation for the cathedral. Has anyone here done this and was it an enjoyable experience?

We were there the last week of May. We arrived a few minutes late as there was a delay on one of the tube lines. We were seated and enjoyed the service very much.....well, maybe not so much the sermon, which we did not expect, but the music was wonderful! We stayed for an organ concert afterwards which was also very worthwhile.

Judy, how long was the sermon? hopefully it will be more of a Catholic (10 minute sermon) than evangelical (45 minutes!) I just love hearing an organ in a big cathedral, I've been known to tear up - was the concert a special event or do you think a regular part of the service?

We attended Evensong at St. Paul's last spring and enjoyed it. We got to sit in the choir which was a lovely experience.

The sermon might have been 15 minutes or so....the minister spoke about the upcoming Jubilee. We just did not expect it and it was a bit boring, but not bad.
The organ concerts are on the St Paul website and I think they are scheduled fairly regularly. I think there was a 20 minute delay between the Evensong and the organ concert.
Both the Evensong service and the organ concert were wonderful!

Last June I took a small group of students into an Evensong service; it was a great experience, and it gave them a glimpse since we didn't have time this trip for an actual tour. I was concerned that we wouldn't be able to stay the entire time, probably needing to meet the rest of the students/adults for dinner and I was worried we'd disturb. But people were quietly and respectfully coming and going a lot, from the area reserved for those not definitely staying the entire time. So when we needed to leave a few minutes early, we did so without any disturbance. It sounds like you will not need to leave early; just wanted to say that even an abbreviated Evensong was a great expereience.

Westminster Abbey also is good for a non-paying experience. Check them out online. I did a 3 pm service and got to sit in the choir. Wonderful

We attended Evensong at St Paul's a few years ago and really enjoyed it. There was a visiting choir, if I recall correctly, and it was quite majestic. We are basically the same religion in the US, so got a kick out of how different it is from our home service.

I also attended a healing service at St Martin in the Fields and enjoyed it very much.

Sunday evensong usually has a sermon but not weekdays. Arrive about 10 min before the service, tell the stewards (ushers) you are attending the service, and you will be shown to your seats, in the choir if there is room. While it costs nothing to attend (collection taken on Sundays), you can't linger afterwards or stay on for free sightseeing but you will be escorted out of the building. On weekdays, the end of evensong normally conincides with closing time.