The Great Fire of 1666 destroyed four fifths of London. What followed was the making of Wren and the rebuilding of London as we know it.
Exactly 350 years after that event, St Paul’s Cathedral was looking to create both an ident and a campaign for their own very particular commemoration.
Sparking people’s imaginations
Early on, we realised we faced two challenges. Somehow we needed to attract visitors throughout the twelve months of a single commemorative exhibition. Also we need to create a ‘spike’ of interest around the exact anniversary in September.
Our solution was to carve both the exhibition and the campaign into three periods: (i) the Spark; (ii) the Inferno; and (iii) the Phoenix. Each lasted four months and inspired related activities and tours.
The following posters appeared in and around the cathedral, at tourist information centres, online and in various magazines.
The fragment and the Phoenix
In the rebuilding of St Paul’s after the Great Fire, the old site had to be cleared of charred rubble, and new foundations set out. One day, Christopher Wren was on site and sent a labourer to fetch a stone to use as a marker. He came back with a fragment of broken tombstone; on it was carved the Latin word ‘resurgam’. (“I shall rise again”.) This same stone can be seen today above the door of the South Transept.
Next time you’re passing the South Transept at St Paul’s, look up…
