In London, it is the chiming clock tower located in the northeast section of the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London. Although the tower's actual name is the Clock Tower, it is often referred to as Big Ben. Big Tom or Big Ben tower. The Clock Tower is one of the most recognizable landmarks in London and is calling card, as well as . Since its inception in 1859, it has served as the most trusted watch in London, as well as in celebration throughout the year.

These worldwide famous clock, located on a tower in the UK, can be heard in all corners of the world. The Air Force radio service broadcasts their battle every hour. It is with Big Ben on the night of the 31st that the world officially enters the next year.

As a rule, tourists are not allowed into Big Ben, but you can get to the very top of the tower (its height is 96 meters) by a narrow spiral staircase. As many as 334 steps will lead to a small platform open type, in the center of it is a great bell. The height of this bell is more than two meters, and its diameter is about three.

There are many things associated with the name of Big Ben. interesting stories. The official version of its name is as follows: the bell was named after the head of the main construction, Sir Benjamin Hall. This man had an impressive size, so he was nicknamed Big Ben. Another version says that the bell was named after the boxer and strongman of the time of Queen Victoria.

After the chimes, the very first strike of Big Ben coincides exactly with the first second of the hour. Every two days, the watch mechanism undergoes a thorough check of all mechanisms and lubrication, while taking into account the pressure and daytime temperature. Like all clockwork, Big Ben is sometimes in a hurry or late. It should be noted that the error here is not very large, only one and a half to two seconds. In order to remedy the situation, you need a coin, namely the old English penny. Until now, no one knows exactly who first decided to use coins, however unique idea worked great. An old penny, if put on a pendulum, can speed it up by two and a half seconds a day. By removing or adding pennies, the caretaker can easily achieve accuracy. The whole mechanism still works perfectly today, despite its weight of five tons and almost 1.5 hundred years of history.

Big Ben is the largest omnidirectional clock in the world.

A survey of 2,000 people was conducted in 2008 which concluded that the tower was the UK's most popular tourist attraction.

Big Ben was built to replace the Old Palace of Westminster after it was destroyed by fire in October 1834.

Big Ben was designed by Charles Barry.

The watch and its sets were designed by Augusto Pugin.

The first 61 meters of the Clock Tower consist of brickwork and stone cladding, while the rest of the tower is made of cast iron.

The tower is tilted slightly to the northwest, at 8.66 inches.

The Big Ben bell weighs 14.5 tons. It is the huge bell that inspired Benjamin Hall to give it the name Big Ben.

The bell of the Clock Tower did not stop working even during the Second World War

The tower is located on a 15-square-meter platform made of 3-meter concrete columns, 4 meters below ground level.

The four facets of the clock rise 55 meters above the ground. The internal volume of the tower is 4650 cubic meters

At the base of each dial is a Latin inscription made of gilded letters. It says - Domine SALVAM FAC REGINAM NOSTRAM VICTORIAM PRIMAM, which means "Lord, keep our Queen Victoria safe first."

The Clock Tower is the focus of New Year's celebrations in the United Kingdom, with radio and television stations chimes to welcome the start of the year.

On Memorial Day, Big Ben's chimes are broadcast on the occasion of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

Big Ben entered the Guinness Book of Records as the tower with the largest 4-sided clock. It also takes an honorable third place in the list of the tallest clock towers. In 2009, Big Ben turned 150 years old, and the British celebrated this event with magnificent festivities.

“But why only 150? asks a reader who knows a little about history. “Because Big Ben is much older!” Yes this is true. But the old tower, built in 1288, did not survive: it and the Palace of Westminster itself were completely wiped out from the face of London by a fire in 1834. What we see today is a rebuilt version that appeared in 1858. The bell sounded again on the tower a year later - only in 1859

Big Ben's clock is especially striking. These are real giants with dials with a diameter of seven meters each. The length of short arrows is 2.7, long - 4.2 m.

In 2012, Big Ben was officially renamed in honor of the current monarch of Great Britain, Queen Elizabeth II, and since that time it has been officially called the Elizabeth II Tower.

Big Ben is a symbol of that London, where old women drink tea at five o'clock in the afternoon, and it always rains outside. Even for the thousandth time, when I look at this monumental tower, I feel awe!

I even get the feeling that the queen at any moment can walk somewhere nearby in her crazy hat, because she also really likes to look at this typical London landscape.

Where is Bin Ben and how to get to it

Closest to the Bean Ben tower is the Westminster metro station, as well as the bus stop of the same name. By the way, there is another stop nearby: Parliament Square. You can get there by buses No. 3, 11, 12, 34, 53, 87, 88, 148, 159, 453, 748, 750, 751, 758, 786, 788, 789, 790, N2, N109, N155, N381.

Stops from which you can quickly walk to Big Ben are marked on the map.

Nearby is Westminster Abbey, St. James's, royal treasury (Jewel Tower).

Parking in this part of the city is quite difficult to find, so it's easiest to get a taxi if you don't want to use public transport. It is enough to ask the driver to take you to Big Ben - everyone knows where it is, and it is easily recognized on all maps. But I always prefer the metro or walking from the center.

History of the great tower

I'll tell you a little about the history of the tower itself, the bell and the clock.

Tower of Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Tower)

The Clock Tower or Clock Tower bears the name of the Tower of Elizabeth II since 2012, when the celebration of the diamond jubilee of the Queen's coronation took place.

The first tower was built back in 1288 during the reign of Edward I. It was located on New Pace Yard in the northern part, and also had a bell and a clock. I read that at first the tower was called Great Edward, and then it was renamed Great Tom.

The tower was replaced in 1367 with the first chiming clock in England for public use. But already at the beginning of the 18th century, the new construction was in a deplorable state and it was demolished. A sundial was put up at this place. I think it's hard to imagine London without Bean Ben now, isn't it?

During a fire in 1834, much of the Palace of Westminster was destroyed. This prompted the state to reconstruct and install a new bell tower. Ser Charles Barry's final design was approved two years later.

Elizabeth Tower was built from the inside, so the work outside was not visible to others. Copper, Yorkshire and Norman stone and Cornish granite were brought along the river, and iron plates for the roof were brought from Birmingham.

Now visitors to the city are greeted by a tower of 11 floors, and 334 steps lead to the Big Ben bell.

Bell Big Ben

The bell is called Big Ben. I was curious to know that it was previously called Great Bell, but the name was changed in honor of the Minister of Public Works, Sir Benjamin Hall, a famous Welsh engineer and politician. He was a respected man and was taller than average, which is why he was sometimes called Big Ben.

I will tell you a secret that the bell did not turn out on the first try. At first, the company Warners of Norton was engaged in casting, and in 1856 16 white horses solemnly carried it through the city from the port. The bell was hung in the New Pace Yard, and until October 17 of the following year it was tested daily until a 1.2-meter crack appeared. They blamed the designer Denison, who insisted on increasing the volume to 660 kg.

For the second time the bell was cast by George Mears and designed by Charles Barry. It already weighed 2.5 tons less than before, and in 1858 it was delivered to the Elizabeth Tower. In July of the following year, it rang for the first time, but already in September it cracked again and was silent for more than four years.

Sir George Airy, Astronomer Royal, was able to find a way out of the situation. The bell was turned over so that the blows fell on a different place. The hammer was replaced with a lighter version, and small square cut into the bell to prevent further expansion of the crack.

As a result, all work with the bell cost £22,000, which today would be about 100 million rubles!

Clock

by design tower clock Benjamin Lewis Villamy and Sir George Airy took over. They sought to set the time in the most accurate way, so that every hour the inhabitants of the city could hear the sound of the bell.

Telegrams from the Greenwich Observatory were supposed to arrive twice a day. Such high standards led to a delay in work, which lasted seven years. For this reason, in 1852 the design was changed to Denison's. It was his design that became a kind of standard for the execution of tower clocks.

The installation took place in 1859. External ornaments were suggested by Augustus Valley Pugin and Ser Barry. Under the clock you can see the inscription Domine Salvam fac Reginam nostrum Victoriam primam, which means "God save our Queen Victoria I".

In the summer of 2007, a team of technicians began cleaning the watch. Such work is repeated every five years. That is, the last time this happened in 2012, and very soon, in 2017, it will be possible to observe this again.

Visiting the Big Ben Tower

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but only residents of the UK can visit the tower. In doing so, they need to write to a Member of Parliament or a member of the House of Lords with a request to sponsor their visit to Big Ben. Perhaps the letter should be inspiring!

For those lucky enough to have British citizenship, tours won't start again until 2020 as the tower is undergoing restoration work.

However, you can visit the Houses of Parliament and order an audio guide at English language. You can also view the tower from the inside in a virtual tour. This will not replace a real visit to the tower, but still, I think this option is better than nothing.

Conclusion

A photo with Big Ben in the background is a must for every tourist. There is something truly London about this tower, part great history foggy Albion. I didn't manage to slip inside like many other tourists, but to be honest, it's enough for me that any day I can come and say hello to my friend Ben. Then it's like I become part of London! Come here to remind yourself what an amazing place you are in.

One of the most easily recognizable landmarks in London is the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, which is mistakenly called Big Ben. In reality, Big Ben is a big bell that strikes every hour and whose ringing has been known to everyone since December 31, 1923 as the call signs of the Air Force.

Name

There are two theories about the origin of the name. According to the first, the bell was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, the building commissioner, a large man who was known in Parliament as "Big Ben". The second theory is that he was named Big Ben after Benjamin Comte, the heavyweight boxing champion at the time.

In 2012, the clock tower of Westminster was named the Elizabeth Tower in honor of the Diamond Jubilee, the sixtieth anniversary of the reign of Elizabeth II.

The history of the tower

The history of the clock tower began in the middle of the 19th century. In the autumn of 1834, a fire destroyed almost the entire old Palace of Westminster. The fire spared only a few parts, among them the oldest Westminster Hall, built in 1097-1099 by William Rufus. The old palace was not particularly saddened, since by the 19th century it had turned into a complex of disorderly dilapidated buildings. In the early 1840s, it was decided to start building a new palace. A competition was announced for the project, which had to be designed in the Gothic or Elizabethan style. Charles Barry's design was declared the winner. However, it did not yet have a clock tower.

Construction began with problems. Since the palace was located on the very banks of the Thames, the earth was like liquid mud. A lot of money and effort went into creating a waterproof foundation. Another problem that needed to be solved was the ventilation of the new building. As the population of London grew, so did the amount of excrement. The development of toilets has improved hygiene in homes and offices, but wastewater still not cleared, they merged into the river. The sewer outlet of the districts of Westminster, Victoria and Pimlico was near Westminster Bridge. On a warm day, the stench from the Thames caused MPs to stop debating. Changes were made to the project to address this issue. Towers were added on both sides of the building to serve as ventilation manifolds. It was decided to install a clock on one of them.

This clock was supposed to be the clock for the parliament, the center of the country, the center of the empire. They were supposed to be not only the largest in the world, but also showing the most exact time. For this purpose, twice a day, the time of the tower clock had to be compared with the observatory at Greenwich. The discrepancy should not exceed one second per day. Many watchmakers considered this requirement to be excessive.

As a result, the design of the watch was developed by the lawyer and amateur watchmaker Edmund Beckett Denison. The watch was made by Messrs E.J. Dent & Co by 1854.

In 1852, Queen Victoria opened the new House of Commons and House of Lords, but the tower's construction was delayed by declining funding. Beginning with the revolutionary year of 1848, the government reduced its spending. Finally, in April 1855, the construction of the tower was completed, it was time to install the clock and bells, but it turned out that the bells were not ready yet.

The history of the casting of the Big Ben bell

The largest bell ever cast in Britain up to that time was the "Peter the Great" from York Minster. It weighed only 10¾ tons. Thus, it is not surprising that the craftsmen were in no hurry to conclude a contract for a new 14-ton bell. In addition, the author of the project, Denison, insisted on his own design of the bell shape and metal composition. In both cases, his requirements differed significantly from traditional practice. Ultimately, in 1856, the 16-ton bell was cast to its specification by John Warner & Sons at Stockton-on-Tees. Eleven months later in October 1857, the bell broke from top to bottom and was sent to be melted down.

The next bell was made at the Whitechapel factory. Its weight was reduced and amounted to 13.76 tons. The bell was ready for installation by October 1858. The ascent to the installation site began early on Wednesday, October 13th, 1858, at a rate of 6 feet per hour, and continued without interruption until Thursday night, 30 hours straight. This bell is called Big Ben. A new trouble occurred in September 1859 - the bell cracked.
The reason was a very heavy hammer. The weight of the hammer was halved to 200 kg, the crack was not sealed, but the bell was simply turned to the other side. Slightly cracked ringing remained the hallmark of Big Ben. Next to it are four other smaller bells that strike the quarters of the hour. Their weight is from one to four tons.

Four dials are located at a height of 55 meters. Their diameter is 7 meters, the numbers are 0.6 meters, the minute hands are 4.2 meters and weigh, including counterweights, about 100 kg. Each of the dials consists of 312 pieces of milky glass.

Under the dial Latin written DOMINE SALVAM FAC REGINAM NOSTRAM VICTORIAM PRIMAM meaning "God save our Queen Victoria the First".

Each side is lit by 28 energy-saving light bulbs.

The total height of the tower is 96 meters. It is a brick shaft, 61 m high, a clock room and a cast-iron roof with a spire, with a total height of 35 meters. There is no elevator inside. Leads to the Clock Room spiral staircase with 292 steps, and to the lantern on the tower you have to climb another 101 steps.

The clock mechanism is located in the room under the bells and is operated by a team of three people.

The pendulum is 3.9 m long and weighs 300 kg. The course of the clock is regulated by coins. The addition of one pence speeds up the pace by two-fifths of a second per day.

Big Ben rarely stopped. Even when a bomb destroyed the building during the war, the clock tower survived and Big Ben continued to count the time.

Due to poor ground and the construction of subway lines next to the Palace of Westminster building, Big Ben began to lean. But the angle of the tower is so small that it is not dangerous.

Unfortunately, foreign tourists can only admire this landmark of London from the outside. The British have a chance to see the capital from the height of the Elizabeth Tower, they just need to write an application in advance to a member of parliament of their constituency.

This unique clock towers 98 meters above the Thames. They have four 23-square-foot dials that face all directions. The minute hand is 14 feet long and the hour hand is 2 feet long.

Big Ben is one of the most accurate clocks in the world. And if the clock starts to rush or lag behind, a coin is placed or removed on its pendulum, which normalizes its activity.

The name Big Ben does not refer to the name of the clock. This is the name of the thirteen-ton bell located inside the clock tower. It was named after the leader construction works Sir Benjamin Hall.

The history of London's chimes dates back to 1840, when architect Charles Barry reconstructed the Westminster building. It was decided to attach a clock tower to the palace. The design of the tower was designed by the Neo-Gothic master Augustus Pugin.

In 1941, during the Second World War, an incendiary bomb destroyed the premises in which the House of Commons of the British Parliament met. However, Big Ben was not damaged.

There is a prison cell in the clock tower. However, it is rarely used. The last case was recorded in 1880.

Only citizens of London and titled persons can enter the premises of the clock tower.

But there is nothing better than to see this miracle with your own eyes! Travel!

Tip 2: The British Museum is a landmark in London

The country's largest museum and one of the oldest and finest in the world, this renowned museum boasts Egyptian, Greek, Roman, European and Middle Eastern galleries. The British Museum is the most visited attraction. On average, 5.5 million tourists visit it every year.

Instruction

The history of the British Museum begins in 1753, when the Royal Physician Sir Hans Sloan donated his collection of plant specimens to the museum. In 1820, the Museum of Natural Science was built nearby.

Among the exhibits of the museum, the most significant are the Rosetta Stone, the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs discovered in 1799, the Parthenon Sculpture taken from the Parthenon in Athens, Lord Elgin (British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire), a large collection Egyptian mummies and the burial of the relics of the Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo.

London's Big Ben has long been one of the most recognizable symbols of England. This name historically does not belong to a huge clock, as is commonly believed. Big Ben is a huge bell weighing about 13 tons, the diameter of its base is 3 meters. The bell is located in the tower, which is part of the architectural ensemble of the Palace of Westminster. Gradually, both the huge clock and the tower 96 meters high began to be called that. Big Ben's clock also has impressive dimensions (diameter of the dial is 7 meters); they are still among the largest in the world.

History of Big Ben

The clock tower was built in 1858. It was designed by Augustus Pugin, an English architect. A year later, at a height of 55 meters, a clock was launched on the tower. The original bell was cast in advance - in 1856, its weight was 16 tons, it was then that it was given the name Big Ben. But during the tests, he gave a crack, after which he was redone and lost weight, and soon cracked again. For several years, the clock worked without it, until, finally, after minor repairs, the bell was raised to the tower. It is he who still rings on the tower along with the quarter bells, reproducing the Cambridge chimes.

Origin of the name Big Ben

About why the bell was given such an uncharacteristic name - Big Ben, there is still no consensus. According to one version, the main attraction of London owes its name to the boxer, who was so nicknamed because of his weight. His real name is Benjamin Count. According to another, Benjamin Hall, who supervised the manufacture of the bell, became the ancestor of this name, because of his build he was called Big Ben.

Big Ben clock features

The movement was designed by the Astronomer Royal and amateur watchmaker (George Airy and Edmund Beckett Denison). It owes its accuracy and reliability to the double three-stage stroke invented by Denison. The clock can be adjusted using 1 penny coins - they change the speed by 0.4 seconds.

Huge dials are in iron frames and consist of individual pieces of opal glass, the circumference of the disks is covered with gilding. However, there is no way to see all this splendor - now the entrance to the tower is closed to visitors. In addition, there is no lift in the tower, and those who wish could only go up the stairs.

How to get to Big Ben

Buses run to Trafalgar Square, Whathall or Parliament Square, with a stop near the Palace of Westminster. By metro, travel to the stations - Victoria or Westminster.

The clock tower is central to the English New Year celebrations and is probably the most best time for a tourist trip to London. On December 31, you can not only admire the most iconic place for the British, but also hear the chimes.