You are all probably familiar with the panoramic illustrations of the City of London from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries showing a forest of church spires. In those days, they were the tallest buildings so the view was filled with church towers and steeples. See below some examples by Hollar in 1647 and by Kipps in 1720. Of course, today you will only be able to spot a handful because so many new skyscrapers have sprung up. One of the tallest of these new buildings is 22 Bishopsgate which has a free viewing platform at the top called Horizon 22. I think this is the best view in London – better than the Skygarden in the Walkie Talkie and the View in the Shard – and not only because it is free (unlike those others). The view from Horizon 22 is stunning and normally if you go before 12 noon you will not have to queue.
In the spirit of those old panoramas, I took some photos to show the remaining churches in the City. My view point is different. Those old panoramas were drawn from the top of Southwark cathedral. Nevertheless, here is my tribute to those old cartographers – a 21 Century “Forest of Spires”. If you do go up to the Horizon 22 viewing platform you can download a larger version of this file here – and see if you can spot the spires yourself.
