Wren's version was somewhat smaller - a pinecone-like lantern on top of a proposed new dome for the old St. Paul's Cathedral, prior to the Great Fire of London in 1666. But its proportions and structure were eerily alike, as Foster demonstrated during his presentation. In fact Foster is always having people coming up to him saying what the Gherkin (English for "pickle") reminds them of. Architectural theorist Charles Jencks has presented Foster with a pine cone that has exactly the same spiral configuration. For me it is more of an upturned Zeppelin. There have inevitably been ribald comparisons to condoms and suppositories. Zoologists have noted that it is a dead ringer for a sea creature known as a glass sponge, and even breathes in the same way. All these resonant references, coupled with its fortuitously prominent location, have made the Gherkin an immediately popular building.