--- title: The Shard Struck by Lightning in London description: This video appears to show The Shard in London makes it look like the building was struck by lightning canonical: https://time.com/109701/watch-lightning-strike-the-tallest-building-in-western-europe/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-22T21:00:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:09:56.781Z og:title: WATCH: Lightning "Strikes" The Tallest Building in Western Europe og:description: "Despite the harrowing photos and video, a spokesperson for skyscraper told Sky News there was no damage to the building" og:url: https://time.com/109701/watch-lightning-strike-the-tallest-building-in-western-europe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: WATCH: Lightning "Strikes" The Tallest Building in Western Europe twitter:description: "Despite the harrowing photos and video, a spokesperson for skyscraper told Sky News there was no damage to the building" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch Lightning "Strike" The Tallest Building in Western Europe  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer May 22, 2014 9:00 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer May 22, 2014 9:00 PM UTC Londoners are buzzing about video and Twitter photos that appear to show a bolt of lightning flashing over The Shard, which bills itself as the tallest building in Western Europe at [1,016-feet](http://the-shard.com/shard/explore-the-shard/overview). _The Telegraph_ [highlights](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/10850481/The-Shard-hit-by-lightning-Western-Europes-tallest-building-lit-up-by-storm.html) this dramatic view, posted to Twitter by a lifeboat crew based on the city’s River Thames: WOW - Check out what we just saw from the station [#lighting](https://twitter.com/hashtag/lighting?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) [#London](https://twitter.com/hashtag/London?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) [pic.twitter.com/zO3GuLOktx](http://t.co/zO3GuLOktx) — Tower RNLI (@TowerRNLI) [May 22, 2014](https://twitter.com/TowerRNLI/status/469475961202028544?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) And here’s another angle, flagged by the [The Evening Standard](http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/watch-the-incredible-moment-the-shard-is-hit-by-lightning-during-london-electrical-storm-9419291.html): To put that thunder storm into context: The Shard got hit by lightning [pic.twitter.com/AIHKzNjPc2](http://t.co/AIHKzNjPc2) — Andy Williams (@andyonpaper) [May 22, 2014](https://twitter.com/andyonpaper/status/469479934604623872?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) [Sky News](http://news.sky.com/story/1267079/lightning-strikes-the-shard-as-storms-hit-uk) reports: “A spokesman for The Shard said he was not aware of a strike as there was no damage.” The Shard Struck by Lightning in London ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/109701/watch-lightning-strike-the-tallest-building-in-western-europe/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/109701/watch-lightning-strike-the-tallest-building-in-western-europe/"},"headline":"Watch Lightning \"Strike\" The Tallest Building in Western Europe","datePublished":"2014-05-22T21:00:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:09:56.781Z","description":"Despite the harrowing photos and video, a spokesperson for the skyscraper told Sky News that there was no damage to the building","url":"https://time.com/109701/watch-lightning-strike-the-tallest-building-in-western-europe/","keywords":["Newsfeed","weather"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/109701/watch-lightning-strike-the-tallest-building-in-western-europe/","name":"Watch Lightning \"Strike\" The Tallest Building in Western Europe"}}]}] ```