The World in London

This is a BAFTA winning short animation made for the BBC's Learning Zone by Mosaic Films called Seeking Refuge.  It's one of the most moving little films I've seen.  

Lots of people come to London as refugees, and have done throughout history.  One of the chapters in our book The Bumper Book of London is about the ethnic diversity of our great city.  Londoners speak more than 300 different languages, more than in any other city in the world.  

There is a mosque on Brick Lane that encapsulates the story of London immigration.  It began life as La Neuve Eglise, a Hugenot Chapel, in 1742.  By 1809 it was known as the Jew's Chapel, and given the task of promoting Christianity to the Jewish immigrants who arrived after fleeing the Russian pogroms.  By 1898, it had become the Spitalfields Great Synagogue.  Finally, in 1976, it became (and remains) the Brick Lane Jamme Masjid Mosque.  Worth putting on your list of London places to explore.