In common with the Commons

I discovered today that the dimensions of the Chamber of the House of Commons (at floor level where the MPs sit) are 14m by 20m. Then I remembered from the refurbishment planning a couple of years ago that these are exactly the same dimensions as the main hall at St Paul's Church. Did you think that the Commons is bigger? So did I.

Visitors to the Commons public galleries (which are admittedly wider than the floor below) always comment how much smaller the space is than they imagine when watching debates on TV. I've also heard how rowdy the chamber can be with hundreds of MPs baying at their opponents and now I can understand why. I can't find a copyright-free picture of the Commons Chamber but there's a nice one at Wikipedia here.

Maybe I have the same kind of interest as the writer of 1 Kings 6, who recorded the overall dimensions of Solomon's Temple (excluding its surrounding courts) as 20 cubits (9m) by 60 cubits (27 metres). That would make the Temple significantly smaller than St Paul's.

I sometimes wish we had more space and it would certainly make it possible to squeeze more in for a busy service. But perhaps when it comes to buildings, what matters is what you do with what you've got.