The Monument

The tall column with the golden flames on top is the Monument, built to remember the Great Fire of London in 1666. The fire started in the early hours of the second of September, in a bakery on Pudding Lane, just a few steps east of where you're standing. It burned for days and left most of the medieval city in ashes. The column is sixty-one metres tall, and the distance from its base to the site of the bakery is exactly the same. If it toppled over to the east, its tip would land roughly where the fire began. It was designed by Christopher Wren and the scientist Robert Hooke. Hooke wanted it to be a scientific instrument too. The column was meant to work as a giant telescope, and there is a small laboratory hidden underneath. The plan was dropped. Traffic in the streets made the ground shake too much. Look at the carved panel on the west side of the base. It shows King Charles the Second directing the rebuilding of the city. You can also climb to the top. There are 311 steps to the viewing gallery, and everyone who makes it gets a certificate. Next stop: the Tower of London, about 600 metres or 9 minutes east along Lower Thames Street.