Symbols of London is a topic that you can talk about for days on end, because the capital of England is already more than 1900 years old! During this time, the native English and tourists formed the image of the "home of the world market and the world financial center". In addition, starting from the year 43 AD, London has become the home for 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 must survive 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 entirely 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 booths made in the shape of an egg, each of which can accommodate no more than 25 passengers. Such a number of capsules is planned by chance: they are a symbol of 32 areas of London.
The design of the Ferris wheel belongs to a married couple of architects D. Marx and J. Barfield. However, in 1993 they did not win the competition, after which it was decided to erect 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 that were first ferried on barges along the River Thames, and later assembled lying on water platforms. When the attraction was mounted, 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 recall the largest of the five Westminster bells. It's about the famous Big Ben. At the time of creation (1859), it was the hardest in the Kingdom. It is believed that the tower is named after Benjamin Hall, who was the curator of construction work. There is another version that says that the name was given to the bell by the popular heavyweight boxer Benjamin County. To date, it makes no sense to guess 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. Pujin. 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. Airy and E. Becket. The plan was implemented by E.J. Dent, after his death, construction was continued by Frederick Dent - his adoptive son.
The pendulum of Big Ben watches is located in a windproof box, its length is four meters and it 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 has a Latin mark “God save our Queen Victoria the First”.
The london bobby
A London policeman was patrolled on the streets of the capital of Scotland by Yard, who, in turn, was founded by Robert Peale in 1829. A high helmet of black color, which flaunts on the heads of cops, can be easily seen from afar. The diminutive name for London's law enforcement officers is Bobby, which came from the short name Peel - Bob.
Initially, the patrol service staff consisted of 68 employees. At the moment, the London police are 27 thousand people who are responsible for the seven millionth population and territory in 787 square meters. km The credibility of a London policeman is growing steadily, as is the respect for residents and guests of the capital.
Phone station
The famous symbols of London can not be imagined without a bright red booth in which the payphone is located. They can be found both throughout the UK and in its former colonies. The first type of street phone was a cream color made of concrete. The number of such booths was small, but some of them can still be seen on the streets of Britain.
In 1924, architect J.G. Scott won the competition by developing 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 various designs were developed, but the last was a design made in 1996.
Today, the number of red telephone boxes is inexorably declining due to the increased use of mobile communications. Nevertheless, most of them continue their work for its intended purpose, and some inside were converted to ATMs, vending machines and Wi-Fi-zones.