Designed by Christopher Wren, this immense Doric column of Portland stone is a reminder of the Great Fire of London in 1666, which destroyed 80% of the city. It stands 62m high, the distance from the bakery in Pudding Lane where the fire is thought to have started. Although Lilliputian by today’s standards, the Monument towered over London when it was built. Climbing up the column’s 311 spiral steps still provides great views thanks to its central location.
©Will Jones/Lonely Planet
Monument to the Great Fire of London
London
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
Windsor Castle
22.46 MILES
The world’s largest and oldest continuously occupied fortress, Windsor Castle is a majestic vision of battlements and towers. Used for state occasions, it…
Westminster Abbey
1.93 MILES
A splendid mixture of architectural styles, Westminster Abbey is considered the finest example of Early English Gothic. It's not merely a beautiful place…
Tate Modern
0.6 MILES
One of London's most amazing attractions, Tate Modern is an outstanding modern- and contemporary-art gallery housed in the creatively revamped Bankside…
Natural History Museum
4.02 MILES
With its thunderous, animatronic dinosaur, riveting displays about planet earth, outstanding Darwin Centre and architecture straight from a Gothic fairy…
St Paul's Cathedral
0.59 MILES
Sir Christopher Wren’s 300-year-old architectural masterpiece is a London icon. Towering over diminutive Ludgate Hill in a superb position that's been a…
Tower of London
0.45 MILES
Few parts of the UK are as steeped in history or as impregnated with legend and superstition as the titanic stonework of the Tower of London. Not only is…
Shakespeare's Globe
0.5 MILES
Seeing a play at Shakespeare's Globe – ideally standing under the open-air "wooden O" – is experiencing the playwright's work at its best and most…
British Museum
1.86 MILES
With almost six million visitors trooping through its doors annually, the British Museum in Bloomsbury, one of the oldest and finest museums in the world,…
Nearby London attractions
1. Sky Garden
0.13 MILES
The ferns, fig trees and purple African lilies that clamber up the final three storeys of the 'Walkie Talkie' skyscraper are mere wallflowers at this 155m…
2. St Dunstan in the East
0.15 MILES
Bombed to bits in the Blitz, the atmospheric ruins of 12th-century St Dunstan's have been left to the elements, resulting in a beautifully sombre public…
3. Leadenhall Market
0.21 MILES
The ancient Romans had their forum on this site, but this covered shopping arcade harks back to the Victorian era, with cobblestones underfoot and 19th…
4. St Stephen Walbrook
0.24 MILES
St Stephen Walbrook (1679) is one of Wren’s finest parish churches and, as it was his first experiment with a dome, a forerunner to St Paul’s Cathedral…
5. Royal Exchange
0.25 MILES
Founded by 16th-century merchant Thomas Gresham as a centre to trade stocks, the Royal Exchange was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth I in 1571. Today…
6. Garden at 120
0.25 MILES
London's largest roof garden, The Garden at 120 is a blossoming 15th-floor pocket park paradise. Its mid-rise vantage point gives a unique perspective on…
7. Lloyd’s Building
0.25 MILES
While the world’s leading specialist insurance brokers are inside underwriting everything from astronauts’ lives to Taylor Swift's legs, people outside…
8. London Mithraeum
0.25 MILES
It takes a little stagecraft to bring these ruins to life, but it's amazing what low lighting and Latin chanting can do. This Roman temple was dedicated…