Guildhall

The Guildhall has been the meeting place of the City of London since the twelfth century and remains the seat of the City of London Corporation. The current Great Hall was built between 1411 and 1440 and is one of the few secular buildings in London to have survived both the Great Fire of 1666 and the Blitz largely intact. The 47-metre hall, with its pointed arched roof, has hosted Lord Mayor's Banquets and historic trials including those of Lady Jane Grey in 1553 and Archbishop Cranmer in 1556. Statues of the legendary giants Gog and Magog stand at one end and still process through the city at the annual Lord Mayor's Show. The hall opens to visitors on selected days; below it lies one of the largest medieval crypts in Britain.