ounded by the Romans as Londinium around AD 50, London grew up around a bridge over the Thames. The Great Fire of 1666 destroyed almost all of the City; Christopher Wren rebuilt it in stone, starting with St Paul’s Cathedral.
Capital of an empire in the 19th century, London invented the underground railway in 1863 and has drawn people from all over the world ever since. You can taste that mix on Brick Lane, hear it at the Notting Hill Carnival and see it in the galleries of the South Bank. Here, tradition and the avant-garde share the same pavement.