The Cenotaph

Walking up Whitehall from Parliament Square, you meet this plain Portland stone memorial outside the Foreign Office, and it explains why the street matters so much each November. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, it was unveiled by King George V at 11am on November 11, 1920, the second anniversary of the Armistice. In 1946 Remembrance Sunday was formally adopted, and the national service held here that day is one of the few occasions when the prime minister and the leader of the opposition lay wreaths side by side. On any other day it takes a minute to see, which makes it an easy stop between Parliament and Downing Street.