The Monument

The Christopher-Wren-designed Monument was built from 1671-77 to commemorate the Great Fire of 1666 that devastated the City of London for three days; as part of that remembrance, the column is the same height as the westward reach of the fire (202 feet) and is located that same distance from the fire's starting point. Mostly hidden by surrounding buildings, if you're not expecting it, The Monument can be quite a surprise as you go past on the bus. Suddenly, there it is, and then, just as suddenly, there it goes.

A detailed explanation of the sculpture on the pedestal base can be found on The Monument website, if you're interested.

The Monument was recently closed for 18 months (and hidden behind scaffolding) while it underwent restoration (the last such work took place in 1888), and just reopened last month. (If you went to The Monument website, you probably also noticed how much cleaner the sculpture is in the above photo in comparison with the photos on the website.) Although you can climb some 300 steps to the viewing platform near the top, it's one view that we have yet to take in, since we haven't yet felt compelled to undertake the climb considering we've been lucky enough to sample the amazing views from the much taller Willis building just 500 metres away.