19/09/2026
Did you know? If you laid the Monument to the Great Fire of London on its side, its tip would land exactly on the spot where the fire started.
Standing at 61.6 metres, the Monument is one of the tallest free-standing stone columns in the world - and it was built with precision. Designed by Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke, it's positioned so that if it fell flat, it would touch Thomas Farriner's bakery on Pudding Lane, the very place where the Great Fire began in 1666.
It wasn't just a memorial. Wren and Hooke also built a small laboratory underneath, hoping to use the column's hollow shaft as a telescope to study the stars. Sadly, vibrations from passing traffic meant it never quite worked.
Today, you can still climb its 311 steps for one of the best views in the City.
📷 The Monument to The Great Fire of London; 2008
