St Dunstan-in-the-East: from a church, to ruins, to a garden

This beautiful church is in the middle of London, between the Tower of London and London Bridge, and was first built around 1100. We found it after realizing we were close after having a drink at the Hung, Drawn and Quartered pub. It was closed for the night, so we went back the next day to look at the gardens.

The church was largely destroyed during WWII, but instead of being repaired or demolished, it was turned into a public garden and a monument.

I find this kind of monument far more moving than most statues and plaques, instead it is something beautiful destroyed, and then turned into something beautiful again.

There is a similar memorial in Hamburg, the ruins of neo-gothic St Nikolai (I'll post my photos eventually) and Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirchein in Berlin, which has been covered in scaffolding every time I've visited.