Symbols of London is a topic that you can talk about for days on end, because the capital of England is already over 1900 years old! During this time, the native English and tourists have formed the image of the city as "the home of the world market and the world's financial center." In addition, since 43 AD, London has become home to thousands of unique architectural monuments that are known to every inhabitant of our planet.
London Eye
As time has shown, not all the symbols of London have to stand for several centuries in order to become the hallmark of the city. The huge Ferris wheel, whose height is 135 meters, will gladly show the capital of England in its entirety from a bird's eye view in all its glory. The London Eye is perhaps the youngest symbol of its city.
The total weight of the steel wheel is 1700 tons. The attraction has 32 egg-shaped booths, each of which can accommodate no more than 25 passengers. This number of capsules is not accidental: they are a symbol of the 32 districts of London.
The Ferris wheel project belongs to the married couple of architects D. Marx and J. Barfield. However, in 1993 they did not win the competition, after which it was decided to build the attraction on their own. The financial issue was decided by a meeting with the head of the British airline British Airways.
The Eye is built from a huge number of parts, which were first transported on barges along the River Thames, and later assembled lying on water platforms. When the attraction was assembled, a special system began to raise it to a vertical position at two degrees per hour until the wheel position reached 65 degrees.
Big Ben
Describing the symbols of London, it is impossible not to mention the largest of the five Westminster bells. We are talking about the famous Big Ben. At the time of its creation (1859), it was the heaviest in the Kingdom. The tower is believed to be named after Benjamin Hall, who oversaw the construction work. There is another version, which says that the name of the bell was given by the popular heavyweight boxer Benjamin Count. Today, there is no point in guessing who Big Ben is named after, since in 2012 the tower was renamed in honor of the sixtieth anniversary of the reign of Elizabeth II.
The author of the project was the English architect O. Pugin. The tower is made in the Neo-Gothic style, the height of which, including the spire, is 96.3 meters. The clock itself was designed by astronomer J. Airey and E. Beckett. The plan was implemented by E. J. Dent, after his death, the construction was continued by Frederick Dent - hisadopted son.
The pendulum of the Big Ben clock is housed in a windproof box, it is four meters long and weighs 300 kg. The swing of the pendulum is two seconds. The total weight of the mechanism is 5 tons, the length of the hands is 4.2 and 2.7 m. The diameter of the four dials is seven meters, each is marked in Latin “God save our Queen Victoria the First.”
The London Bobby
The London Policeman was put on patrol in the streets of the capital by Scotland Yard, which in turn was founded by Robert Peel in 1829. The high black helmet that flaunts on the heads of the policemen can be easily seen from afar. The short name for London's law enforcement officers is Bobby, which comes from Peel's short name, Bob.
At first, the patrol service consisted of 68 employees. At the moment, 27 thousand people serve in the London police, who are responsible for the seven million population and an area of 787 square meters. km. The authority of the London policeman is constantly growing, as well as the respect of residents and guests of the capital for him.
Phone booth
The famous symbols of London cannot be imagined without a bright red booth that houses a payphone. They can be found both throughout the UK and in its former colonies. The first type of street phone was cream colored and made of concrete. The number of such booths was small, but some of them can still be seen on the streets of Britain.
In 1924architect J. G. Scott won the competition with a new design for street payphones. The Post Office made several amendments to the material (not steel, but cast iron) and color (not gray, but red, which can be easily seen in Foggy Albion). Subsequently, a number of different designs were developed, but the latest design was made in 1996.
Now the number of red telephone booths is inexorably declining due to the increased use of mobile communications. However, most of them continue their work for their intended purpose, and some have been converted inside into ATMs, vending machines and Wi-Fi zones.
