Central London: description and photos. Tower of London. Big Ben. The main attractions of London

The question of which part of London is considered its geographical center, worries not only those who like to study their native planet on maps. Many tourists, getting to the capital of Great Britain, with difficulty are guided in this metropolis. Fortunately, most of the most interesting sights are fairly easy to find. In addition, you can book guided tours in London.

Buckingham Palace

It is unlikely that there will be a person who would never have heard of Her Majesty Elizabeth II. So, her official residence - Buckingham Royal Palace - is located in the area of Pell Mall and Green Park. If the standard fluttered above the building, it means that the monarchy resides in its beloved capital.

The Royal Palace acquired its status when the grandmother Elizabeth II, Victoria, ascended the throne, in 1837. Today, the statue of this monarchy first meets all those who approach the fence of the residence to inspect the ceremonial residence of the Windsor dynasty.

Buckingham Palace consists of 775 rooms. 52 of them are the royal family's chambers and guests. There are also about 20 public buildings. In 92 of them offices are located, and 188 are used for technical needs and rest for maintenance personnel. In addition, the royal residence has 72 bathrooms and toilets. The total area of the palace is 20 hectares, and on 17 hectares is the largest private garden in London with an artificial lake.

Ceremony of changing the guard

Guardsmen in bright red uniforms and high fur hats are the same attractions as palaces and temples adorning the center of London.

The ceremony of changing the guard is held at Buckingham Palace every day at 11:30 in the summer, and every other day in the remaining seasons. The length of the ceremony is 45 minutes. Sometimes a military parade for a solemn change of guard is canceled because of bad weather.

The tradition dates back to 1660. In Buckingham Palace it began to be held from 1837, when Queen Victoria moved there.

The colorful action is accompanied by the sounds of orchestral music. Part of the parade passes outside the fence of Buckingham Palace, and the rest of the ceremony tourists and Londoners usually watch through its fence.

Tower of London

This fortress is one of the main attractions of the British capital. It is believed that it was around him that modern London was formed. The center of the city without it is impossible to imagine today. The castle covers an area of 1170 sq. Km. M and is a square. From the outside, the Tower of London is surrounded by two rings of walls with many towers. On the inner defensive line there are 13 towers. As for the outer ring, it is much longer than the first one. To protect it from the water, six towers along the banks of the River Thames have been erected, from which a beautiful view of the magnificent Tower Bridge in the center of London.

In the south-west corner of the space between the two walls of the walls, there is a meadow with a plow on which for many centuries many prominent representatives of the English nobility were executed, including the three queens of Henry the Eighth. The last decapitation in the Tower of Tallinn took place in 1747.

Today this fortress in the center of London is open for tourists. They are invited to get acquainted with the exhibits exhibited in the Tower Museum and in the Armory Chamber. Among them, the treasure of the British Crown is of particular interest.

On the territory of the castle there is also the most ancient Christian temple of the capital of Great Britain - the chapel of St. Peter, which is almost 1000 years old.

Tower Bridge in central London

Although this structure is considered medieval by many, it was built only in 1894. Tower Bridge, decorating the center of London, is a drawbridge with two towers, put on the intermediate pillars. The total length of the structure is 244 m, and its height is 65 m. The pedestrian galleries of the bridge since 1982 are used as a museum.

The management of the Tower Bridge and to this day is carried out in the old-fashioned way: he has a captain and a team consisting of military sailors. They beat the bottles and stand watch.

Initially, the bridge was divorced daily, but at the moment this ritual occurs only a few times a week and crowds of tourists are going to see it.

Palace of Westminster

Telling about the main attractions of London, one can not ignore this majestic building in the Gothic style, built in the middle of the 19th century, where the English Parliament is sitting today. The palace has 3 towers. The highest of them reaches a height of 98.5 m. It is named after the Queen of Great Britain Victoria. At the time of construction, the tower was considered to be the highest in the world among secular buildings.

At the base of the building is the Sovereign Entrance, which is an arch of 15 m high surrounded by statues. The cast-iron pyramidal roof of the building is crowned by a 22-meter flagstaff. The Victoria Tower stores parliamentary archives for more than 500 years. They occupy 12 floors and contain almost 3 million documents of national importance.

In the northern part of the palace is the Tower of Elizabeth. It is better known as Big Ben (see details below).

Another interesting building of the palace is the Central Tower. It is octagonal and has a height of 91 m. The tower is in the middle of the palace building and rises above the Central Hall. Initially, the structure was designed as a chimney for 400 fireplaces, located in different rooms of the palace. However, it turned out that the architects were mistaken in the calculations and today the construction performs a decorative function.

In the middle of the western facade of the Westminster Palace is the Tower of St. Stephen. Two more such structures are located at the ends of the facade, which is located on the side of the Thames. These are the towers of the Speaker and the Chancellor.

Big Ben

When describing the main and most recognizable sights of London, their list is often opened by the most famous tower of Great Britain.

It was built as part of the new Royal Palace erected after the fire in 1834, and is a majestic structure in the Neo-Gothic style. The author of the project was Augustus Pajin. The height of the Big Ben tower with the spire is 96.3 meters. At its base is a 15-meter concrete foundation with a thickness of 3 meters.

In the upper part of the tower at an altitude of 55 meters there are watches with four dials with a diameter of 7 m of smoky glass. At night they are illuminated from the inside. Above the clock there is a bell tower with 5 bells. The largest of them was called Big Ben. According to one of the legends, he was so named in honor of the construction manager of the construction of Sir Benjamin Hall.

Although Big Ben is one of the most recognizable sights of our planet, access to it for tourists is closed. It is made for security reasons. In addition, there are no lifts in the tower, so the few who are allowed to climb to the movement, you have to overcome 334 not the most comfortable steps.

Trafalgar Square

In response to a question about what area is in the center of London, any person who at least once visited the British capital, no doubt called Trafalgar.

This famous landmark is located at the intersection of Whitehall, Strand and Mall. Until the 19th century, the square wore the name of Wilhelm the Fourth and received its modern name in 1805 after a famous sea battle that cost the life of the best admiral of Great Britain.

In the center of Trafalgar Square there is a column of Nelson. It is built of dark gray granite, has a height of 44 m and is a kind of pedestal for the statue of the famous admiral. The column is decorated with voluminous images made of Napoleonic guns.

Other famous buildings located in Trafalgar Square

If the Tower is the historical center of London, then Trafalgar Square is a geographical one. On its perimeter are the London National Gallery, St. Martin's Church in the fields, the Admiralty Arch, as well as the buildings of several embassies.

Since the 1840s, the square is decorated with 3 monuments set at its corners. They are statues of George the Fourth, as well as generals Charles James Napier and Henry Havelock. Simultaneously with them a fourth pedestal was built on Trafalgar Square. He was empty until 2005, when it was installed a sculpture, depicting the disabled artist Alison Lapper. After 4 years, in its place, a glass installation "Model Hotel" appeared. Today, on the fourth pedestal of Trafalgar Square, you can see a huge bottle inside which is a mock-up of the ship Victoria. It was on his board that the admiral received a fatal wound, from which he died at the age of 47 years.

The London Eye

This is one of the largest eagle in Europe was built from 1998 to 2004. It is located on the south bank of the Thames. The authors of the project are David Marks and Julia Barfield. The total weight of the huge wheel with all the mechanisms is 1700 tons.

The London Eye has 32 cabins in the form of huge eggs. Each of them comfortably accommodates up to 25 passengers, who can view from the height for half an hour the historical center of London, its outskirts and some suburbs.

The speed of rotation of the wheel is about 0.9 kilometers per hour. It does not stop to land passengers and "take on board" the following, and these operations have to be carried out on the go. In good weather, visibility from the cabin is up to 40 kilometers.

Ride on the Ferris wheel tourists and Londoners can daily. From September to March, passengers are boarded from 10:00 to 20:30, and from April to August, an additional half hour is added to the working time of the attraction.

Hyde park

Royal or Hyde Park in central London (Rangers Lodge, W2 2UH, open from 5:00 to 24:00) is one of the most famous in Britain and covers an area of 1.4 square meters. Km. It was founded before the conquest of the British Isles by the Normans. However, it was made open for walks of Londoners only in the 17th century by the order of King Charles II.

In the north-eastern part of Hyde Park is the world famous Corner of speakers. He appeared in 1872, when a law was passed that allowed all those who wished to publicly express their opinion on any topic, including discussing the actions of royal persons. Every day from 12:00 there you can listen to the speeches of all those who want to share their views on politics with their fellow citizens, as well as discuss urgent social and moral issues.

In addition, the territory of the park is Lake Serpentine, where you can swim, and the eponymous gallery. By the way, on this reservoir during the London Olympics there were swimmings in the open water.

Serpentine Gallery

As already mentioned, this landmark is in the territory of Hyde Park. It was opened in 1970 in a classic tea pavilion, built in the mid-30-ies of the last century. At one time, the patroness of the gallery was Princess Diana. Today, at the entrance to the building where the permanent exposition is located, one can see the work of Peter Coates and Jan Hamilton Finlay dedicated to her.

The Serpentine Gallery annually orders the creation of new temporary pavilions to architects of world renown. They are happy to design unique facilities, inside which there are conferences on the theme of art, special film screenings, and also a café.

In different years, Serpentine Gallery exhibited such world-famous artists and sculptors as Man Ray, Andy Warhol, Henry Moore, Alan McCallum, Paula Rego, Damien Hirst, Bridget Riley, Jeff Koons, and others.

Westminster Abbey

This majestic temple has for many centuries been the traditional place of coronation, marriage and burial of the kings of Great Britain. Westminster Abbey (address: 20 Deans Yard London SW1P 3 PA), or rather the Collegiate Church of St. Petra, began to be built in 1245, and its final appearance acquired only after almost 5 centuries after numerous reconstructions.

The main building of the temple has the form of a cross. The greatest length, from the western door to the outer wall of the chapel of the Mother of God, is 161.5 m, and the greatest height of the Western towers is 68 m. The total area of the building is about 3000 sq. M. M. Simultaneously, the abbey can accommodate up to 2 thousand people.

At the very beginning of the central gallery of the abbey you can see the images of allhistorical saints work of the icon painter Sergei Fedorov. In addition, the abbey is a place of pilgrimage for lovers of English literature - Poets Corner, which houses the graves of such famous writers of past centuries as Charles Dickens, Chaucer, Samuel Johnson, Tennyson and Browning.

Few know that in 1998, the statues of the martyrs of the 20th century were erected over the portico of the western entrance to the church. Among them, the wrestler with racial discrimination Martin Luther King, the priest Dietrich Bonhoeffer, executed by the Nazis in the concentration camp Flossenbürg, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, dropped by the Bolsheviks into the mine near Alapaevsk in 1918, and others.

Globus theatre"

Many of those who buy tours to London, necessarily want to visit the theater "Globe", located on the south bank of the Thames. The building, which hosted the premiere of many Shakespearean plays, was built in 1599. Unfortunately, it burned down after 14 years.

The modern building of the "Globe" (address: New Globe Walk, SE1), erected in 1997, is an exact copy of the historical theater. Part of the seats in his auditorium are directly under the open sky, so you can visit the performances of Shakespeare's troupe from mid-May to September 20.

To visit the "Globe", it is best to take the metro and get to the stations of Cannon St or Mansion House.

Covent Garden

The Royal Theater in the London area of the same name was founded in 1732 and enjoyed immense popularity among the residents of the British capital.

The current building (address: Bow Street WC2E 9DD) is the third in a row. It was built in 1858. The auditorium of the Covent Garden Theater accommodates 2,268 people.

Covent Garden is also called the Royal Opera and on its stage the first-magnitude stars shine.

Against the backdrop of other London attractions, the building does not seem so impressive, but the design of its interiors makes an unforgettable impression on the audience.

Piccadilly Circus

Piccadilly Circus is in the Westminster area. The square was built in 1819. To build it, I had to demolish the house with the garden that belonged to Lady Hatton and interfered with the connection of Regent Street with the important shopping street Piccadilly.

The main attraction of the square is the Memorial Fountain of Shaftesbari. The facility is located in the south-western part of Piccadilly Circus. It is dedicated to the famous philanthropist Lord Shaftesbari. At the top of the sculptural composition is the winged figure of a naked arrow, symbolizing Anteros, who is the "god of unselfish love."

On the square are also the buildings of the underground Criterion-Theater, founded in 1874, and the music hall London Pavilion, built in 1859.

At the beginning of the century the building was connected with the Trocadero center.

Tate Gallery

In a building located at Millbank SW1B 3DG, not far from Westminster Palace, tourists can get acquainted with the famous National Collection of British Art. It represents the world's largest collection of paintings, sculptures and graphics of English authors of the 16-20th centuries. The factory was founded by Sir Henry Tate. The gallery was opened to the public in 1897.

Thirty years later, a wing was attached to the building, in which foreign painters' works were placed. In 1987, the Clore Gallery began to operate, in which one of the most extensive collections of paintings by Turner is presented.

Now you know what interesting architectural attractions adorn the center of London. In addition, every year the capital of Great Britain becomes a venue for various cultural, sports and other spectacular events of world and European scale. They, like monuments of history and architecture, are one of the reasons for the popularity that tours in London enjoy.