London COVID memorial wall holds vigil opposite Parliament : NPR
Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR’s international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.
Six years ago this spring, as COVID-19 cases surged in distant China, Britain was torn between isolating the country and letting daily life continue its hectic hum. For those who experienced it, those weeks – and the months that followed – were a strange upheaval.
Today, this collective experience is etched in the London landscape. Raised by ordinary citizens in 2021, the 1,640-foot-long National Covid Memorial Wall stretched along the banks of the River Thames, directly opposite Parliament, as if watching over the country’s corridors of power.
On a recent visit, I strolled past this mural, where more than a quarter of a million hand-drawn hearts represented all the lives lost to the coronavirus — and the pain of those left behind. “Dad, our hero. Loved and missed,” Amanda and Andy wrote. “Our best friend,” they added. “My beloved mother, Sylvia Renton, 1926-2021,” another heart read.
Britain began its first COVID-related lockdown on March 23, 2020. But what followed also included a series of scandals that shook a public still gripped by grief and confusion: the prime minister’s “partygate,” the Health Secretary’s office affair caught on CCTV, and controversies over the procurement of personal protective equipment.
This is why this wall is important.
A long, unbroken line of hearts beating defiantly against oblivion. It is a memorial as well as a mirror. It honors the dead while reminding those in power across the river of the cost of their missteps.
Discover other faraway postcards from around the world:
