The Monument to the Great Fire of London stands 202 feet tall, and that number is not arbitrary. It is the precise distance from the column's base to the spot on Pudding Lane where, on 2 September 1666, a fire escaped Thomas Farriner's bakery and proceeded to destroy 13,200 houses, 87 churches, and the livelihoods of 100,000 Londoners. Farriner never admitted fault.

Designed by Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke, the column doubled as a scientific instrument: a zenith telescope built into its hollow core for astronomical observations. The experiments failed because traffic vibrations made accurate readings impossible, but the structure remains the world's tallest isolated stone column.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours trace the fire's path from Pudding Lane, explain Wren's role in rebuilding the city's churches, and reveal the anti-Catholic inscription that once blamed papists for the blaze.