In 1666, Wenceslaus Hollar produced a print showing two views of the London from the south bank of the Thames, from Temple in the west to the Tower of London in the east. The image above shows the city before the Great Fire that ravaged it that year, the second the same area but after the devestation, thus showing the extent of the damage. The fire had destroyed almost 400 acres within the City Walls, including an estimated 13,000 houses and 87 churches. The latter were replaced with 53 churches built by Sir Christopher Wren alone, in addition to St Paul's Cathedral. The Cathedral shows little external damage on Hollar's print, and indeed it may have been possible to reconstruct the original structure, but the decision was made to take advantage of the disaster to press on with previously proposed plans to modernise the building. A 50-point numerical key along the lower edge of the print identifies notable churches in the city.

The present example is the third state, which was published by John Overton between 1669 and 1707.