William Blake famously imagined 'Jerusalem builded here' in London. But
Blake was not the first or the last to visualise a shimmering new
metropolis on the banks of the River Thames. For example, the Romans
erected a temple to Mithras in their ancient city of Londinium; medieval
Londoners created Temple Church in memory of the Holy Sepulchre in which
Jesus was buried; and Christopher Wren reshaped the skyline of the
entire city with his visionary dome and spires after the Great Fire of
London in 1666. In the modern period, the fabric of London has been
rewoven in the image of its many immigrants from the Caribbean, South
Asia, Eastern Europe and elsewhere. While previous books have examined
literary depictions of the city, this is the first examination of the
religious imaginary of the metropolis through the prism of the visual
arts. Adopting a broad multicultural and multi-faith perspective, and
making space for practitioners as well as scholars, its topics range
from ancient archaeological remains and Victorian murals and cemeteries
to contemporary documentaries and political cartoons.