The View from the Shard: in pictures
As the viewing galleries at the top of the Shard prepare to welcome their first visitors, we've had a preview of SE1's newest - and highest - tourist attraction.
Before The View from the Shard receives its first paying visitors on 1 February, thousands of Southwark residents and schoolchildren have received free tickets for previews in the coming weeks.
With work nearing completion, this week the SE1 website went for a tour of the attraction.
"When we designed the Shard, a viewing gallery was part of our thinking right from the start," said architect Renzo Piano.
"We wanted to create a public space where people could visit the building to experience London in a different way and also feel that they have discovered the spirit of the building.
"Level 72 is a wonderful example of this: in the open air on the highest habitable floor, you are surrounded by the shards of glass as well as the sights, sounds, elements and atmosphere of the city below. On top of the city, but also within it."
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