St Paul’s Cathedral has dominated London’s skyline for more than 200 years. However, it is being dwarfed in terms of size – though not importance – by more modern constructions.

Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece, finished in 1710, is distinctly overshadowed by the Shard, the central London tower set to be the highest in western Europe. It is the first design in Britain by Italian architect Renzo Piano.

The new building outstripped Canary Wharf’s One Canada Square in November to become the tallest building in Britain, the highest-profile part of a broader plan for a £2 billion redevelopment of the area around London Bridge station.

The tower will have 44 lifts and be topped by a four-floor viewing gallery which will be open to the public.

A new public concourse and a piazza will be complete by 2013 and link the 310-metre building to the station, through which 400,000 commuters pass every day.

The man building the tower, Irvine Sellar, chairman of the Sellar Group, said last month: “We’re not the tallest building in the world by a long way, but we are the best-looking in Europe.”

Mr Piano recently said to Mr Sellar: “If we were both not a little mad, this would never have happened.”

Wren’s cathedral – the fourth to occupy the site – was built between 1675 and 1710 after its predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire of London.

Important events there have included the funerals of Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Winston Churchill; Jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria; peace services marking the end of the World War I and II; the Service of Remembrance and Commemoration for September 11, 2001, and the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, to Lady Diana Spencer.

The cathedral suffered bomb damage during World War II – but survived the worst that the Luftwaffe could throw at it.

The dome, rising 111 metres above the City, is one of the largest in the world. Situated at the heart of the building, the space underneath the dome is now used as the principal place of worship in the cathedral.