Pelican in her Piety

Pelican in her piety, St. Michael Cornhill
St. Michael - Cornhill

The church of St. Michael is almost completely hidden in the middle of Cornhill under the rising battlements of glass that is the modern City of London. It is an interestingly romanesque (classical italian) church that was rebuilt after the fire of London, possibly designed by Sir Christopher Wren, although this is in some doubt, and the building has been embellished over the centuries by various prominent architects, last of which was Gilbert Scott in the 1850s. The church itself was built over the great Roman Forum on the site of the original basilica.

Just inside the entrance under one ofd the great stained glass windows, is this sculpture called "Pelican in her piety", although it is certainly the strangest looking pelican I have seen. Some call it a Cormorant, which it does more closely resemble, but to me it looks more like a Phoenix rising from the timbers of the old building with the youngsters pecking at her breast. 

The image of the Pelican in her piety is a heraldic image appearing in many murals and motifs and is based on a pre-Christina myth about the Pelican killing her young and then wounding herself to bring her infants back to life.