London [antikvár]

ImérocC HANGÉ, OFTEN VIOLENT AND DESTRUCTIVE, mOStly short-sighted: London's story is one of constant upheaval. So profound are somé of the most recent changes that many parts of London have become unrecognizable in the course of just one generation.Those who seek tangible evidence of London's 2,000 years, searching out buildings that represent the city's different phases, can find it a frustrating experience. In many areas great canyons of con-crete and glass have sanitized and sealed off any sense of the sixty or so generations of Londoners who have come and gone since the first merchants and traders followed the Román legionaries into the Thames Valley.The one aspect of London's past that is enduring is its com-mercial ethos: set up as a markét place all those centuries ago, it still fulfils the same function. Today's City bristles with traders going about their business of insurance, shipping, banking, stockbroking and moving money, in any denomination or currency you fancy, around the world. It is, of course, this immutable aspect of London's character that has swept away much of the past in its suc-cessful attempt to keep up with the changing demands of the markét. But an observer interested in those fine buildings and town-scapes that have survived phase after phase of redevelopment must come to the regrettable conclusion that they have done so more by good luck and default than through wise planning or regard for our architectural heritage.No great Román buildings, medieval squares or merchants' houses remain in the old City of London - the last stretches of wall and the City gates were pulled down in the interests of commerce in the eighteenth century - and the "old City" now bears a closer resemblance to Manhattan's Wall Street than to a venerable European capital.But despite the avarice of successive generations of City Fathers, the devastation inflicted by the Luftwaffe and acts of God, it is still possible to trace London's history through tangible remains - and not just such great set pieces of modern tourism as Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, St Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London. Tucked away in corners and courtyards, dwarfed by modern tower blocks or barely visible at the end of nar-row lanes, are many buildings and places that spectacularly evoke the spirit of London's past. The hidden story of this city lies behind the solid wrought-iron gates of the livery companies and medievalJohn Stozv's moriument in St Andrew Undershaft, Leadenhall. Stow, London's first antiquarian, spent eight years writing his epic Survey of London, published in 1598 and using records no longer available to us. His ixiork has never been bettered: it is the result of insatiable curiosity, painstaking research and a great love for his city.