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.
