Christ Church Spitalfields

The lowdown

Rising over Spitalfields Market is one of the great churches of London, and it is free to walk into. Christ Church was built in the 1720s by Nicholas Hawksmoor, Wren's brilliant and idiosyncratic pupil, and its huge white spire and bold portico are pure dramatic Baroque, dominating the skyline of the old Huguenot quarter.

Inside, the interior was restored to its original luminous splendour after years of decline, all soaring columns and clear light. It is renowned for its acoustics and hosts concerts and the Spitalfields Music festival, but simply standing inside the bright, lofty space costs nothing.

It anchors one of London's best free wandering districts, the covered market opposite, the Georgian silk-weavers' houses of Fournier Street, Brick Lane round the corner, so it makes a natural free centrepiece to a day on foot in the East End.