Monuments & Ruins

Not every statue in London. The ones worth crossing the road for: Roman wall, medieval ruins, and the monuments that earn a detour.

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The Cenotaph

Lutyens's empty tomb, plain Portland stone and no religion, the memorial every other memorial answers to.

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Photo by Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Also in Royal London and Power & Politics.

It began as a temporary wood and plaster structure for the peace parade of July 1919, meant to last a week. The crowds would not let it go, and Lutyens rebuilt it in stone in 1920. There is no cross, no name and no figure, only the flags and the words The Glorious Dead, so that it could stand for the dead of every faith and none. What looks like straight lines is not: the sides lean inward so that they would meet three hundred metres up, and the horizontals are arcs of a circle with its centre far underground, a trick of the Greek temples. The nation's wreaths go here every November.

Where
Whitehall, SW1A 2AX
Nearest station
Westminster · 2 min walk

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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

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