The Barbican Estate: the Phoenix of the Blitz

The bombing of the Second World War devastated and exposed London at the same time. The Luftwaffe accidentally became London’s most dedicated set of archaeologists ripping open the layers of time. At the place now called the Barbican Roman London was revealed.

The architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon were entrusted with the rebuilding. Their innovative and bold plan, combining housing, shops, an arts centre and places of education, integrated a thousand years of London history into one small space, using buildings and materials that were the cutting edge of modernity. The scheme was not without controversy and continues to provoke strong reactions.

On this walk you will see with new eyes the way in which this marvellous development is encoded with the secrets of time, and how it incorporated the church of St Giles Cripplegate, the only building to survive The Blitz in the area.

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