A religious office tower? Virgin Mary's outspreak cloak in the City of London

A religious office tower? Virgin Mary's outspreak cloak in the City of London

The City of London is a city of two domes: the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral and the curved top part of 30 St Mary Axe. These two buildings or, better, their appearances from Waterloo Bridge represent the City and define the ‘new London skyline’, so an urban historian and representative of English Heritage suggests. The Church of England Cathedral, designed by Christopher Wren, which is the seat of the Bishop of London and the mother church of the Diocese of London, and the office tower, designed by Foster and Partners, which is better known as the ‘Gherkin’: are these really the two landmark buildings that shape ‘the image of the city’? In principle, I argue against a representative understanding of buildings and views and insist that no individual building and no individual view can represent the ‘whole’ city adequately. I support Christine Boyer’s argument that in the contemporary city the meaning of representational images is eroded and totality is lost.

Date

2016

Language

English

Output

Book chapter in Visualizing a Sacred City: London, Art and Religion, edited by Ben Quash, Aaron Rosen and Chloe Reddaway

Author

Günter Gassner

Keywords

Commodification

Skyline

Critical Theory

Benjamin

Spatial practices

Index

Legal Notice

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© 2026 Günter Gassner

Index

Legal Notice

Privacy Policy

© 2026 Günter Gassner