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Construction started: 1671
Height: 62 m
Hours: Sunday hours 9:30 am–6:00 pm - See all
Address: Fish Street Hill, London EC3R 6DB, United Kingdom
Phone: +44 20 7626 2717
Architects: Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke
The Monument
The Monument to the Great Fire of London, more commonly known simply as the Monument, is a stone Roman Doric column in the City of London, near the northern end of London Bridge, which commemorates the Great Fire of London.
It stands at the junction of Monument Street and Fish Street Hill, 202 ft (62 m) tall and 202 ft (62 m) from the place where the Great Fire started on 2 September 1666. Another monument, the Golden
Boy of Pye Corner, marks the point near Smithfield where the fire stopped. Constructed between 1671 and 1677, it is the tallest isolated stone column in the world[1] and was built on the site of St. Margaret's, Fish Street, the first church to be burnt down by the Great Fire.
History of The Monument: The first Rebuilding Act, passed in 1669, stipulated that "the better to preserve the memory of this dreadful visitation", a column of either brass or stone should be set up on Fish Street Hill, on or near the site of Farynor's bakery, where the fire began. Wren, as surveyor-general of the King's Works, was asked to submit a design. It was not until 1671 that the City Council approved the design, and it was another six years before the 202 ft column was complete. It was two more years before the inscription (which had been left to Wren — or to Wren's choice — to decide upon) was set in place. "Commemorating — with a brazen disregard for the truth — the fact that 'London rises again...three short years complete that which was considered the work of ages.
Surviving drawings show that several versions of the monument were submitted for consideration: a plain obelisk, a column garnished with tongues of fire, and the fluted Doric column that was eventually chosen. The real contention came with the problem of what type of ornament to have at the top. Initially, Wren favoured a statue of a phoenix with outstretched wings rising from the ashes, but as the column neared completion he decided instead on a 15 ft statue either of Charles II, or a sword-wielding female to represent a triumphant London; the cost of either being estimated at £1,050. King Charles himself disliked the idea of a statue of himself atop the monument, pointing out "I didn't start the fire", and instead preferred a simple copper-gilded ball "with flames sprouting from the top", costing a little over £325, but ultimately it was the design of a flaming gilt-bronze urn suggested by Robert Hooke that was chosen.......Wikipedia >>
1. Bengali Wikipedia
2. Hindi Wikipedia.
