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

The question of which part of London is considered hisa geographical center, excites not only those who like to study their native planet on maps. Many tourists, getting to the capital of Great Britain, have a hard time navigating 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 neverheard about Her Majesty Elizabeth II. So, her official residence - Buckingham Royal Palace - is located in the area of ​​Pall Mall and Green Park. If the standard fluttered above the building, it means that the monarchy is in its beloved capital.

The Royal Palace acquired its status under thethe accession to the throne of the great-grandmother Elizabeth II - Victoria - 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 guest houses. 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 atBuckingham 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.

Colorful action is accompanied by 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 mainsights 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. On 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. To protect it from the water, 6 towers along the banks of the Thames have been erected in due time, with a beautiful view of the magnificent Tower Bridge in the center of London.

In the south-west corner of space, whichis between the two belts 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 central London is open tovisiting 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 special 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, placed on the intermediate supports. 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 attractionsLondon, you 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 entrance of Sovereign,It is an arch of 15 m high surrounded by statues. The cast-iron pyramidal roof of the building is crowned by a 22-meter flagpole. 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 theThe central tower. It is octagonal and has a height of 91 m. The tower is located 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 Westminsterpalace is the Tower of St. Stephen. Two more such structures are located at the ends of the facade, which is located on the Thames side. 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 Royala palace erected after a 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.

At the top of the tower at an altitude of 55 metersthere 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 recognizablesights of our planet, access to it for tourists is closed. It is made for security reasons. In addition, the tower has no lifts, so the few who are allowed to climb to the clockwork, 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 oncrossing the streets 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 the famous sea battle that cost the life of the best admiral of Great Britain.

In the center of Trafalgar Square there is a columnNelson. 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 three-dimensional images, made of Napoleonic guns.

Other famous buildings located on Trafalgar Square

If the Tower is the historical center of London, thenTrafalgar Square - geographical. 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,installed 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 also erected on Trafalgar Square. He was empty until 2005, when it was installed on a sculpture, depicting the disabled artist Alison Lapper. After 4 years in its place appeared a glass installation "Model of the hotel". Today, on the fourth pedestal of Trafalgar Square, you can see a huge bottle inside which the layout of the ship "Victoria" is placed. 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 Europewas 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 ofhuge eggs. Each of them comfortably accommodates up to 25 passengers, which can view from the height for half an hour the historical center of London, its outskirts and some suburbs.

The wheel rotation speed is about 0.9kilometers 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 andLondoners 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 by Londoners only in the 17th century by the order of King Charles II.

In the north-eastern part of Hyde Park is locatedworld famous Corner of speakers. He appeared in 1872, when a law was passed that allowed all those wishing to publicly express their opinions 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 acute 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 attractionis located in the territory of Hyde Park. It was opened in 1970 in a classical tea pavilion, built in the mid-30s of last century. At one time, the patroness of the gallery was Princess Diana. Today, at the entrance to the building, where the permanent exhibition is located, you can see the work dedicated to it by Peter Coates and Jan Hamilton Finlay.

The Serpentine Gallery annually orders the creation ofnew 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 there are also cafes.

In different years in the gallery Serpentineexhibited 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 been for many centuries alreadya 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 only after almost 5 centuries after numerous changes.

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 abbeyyou 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 - the Corner of Poets, which houses the graves of such famous writers of the past centuries as Charles Dickens, Chaucer, Samuel Johnson, Tennyson and Browning.

Few know that in 1998 over the porticoThe western entrance to the temple was erected with statues of martyrs of the 20th century. They include Martin Luther King, a fighter against racial discrimination, Priest Dietrich Bonhoeffer, executed by the Nazis in the Flossenbürg concentration camp, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Fyodorovna dumped by the Bolsheviks in a mine near Alapayevsk in 1918, and others.

Globus theatre"

Many of those who buy tours to London,definitely want to visit the theater "Globus", located on the south bank of the Thames. The building where the premieres of many plays of Shakespeare were held was built in 1599. Unfortunately, it burned down 14 years later.

Modern building "Globus" (address: New Globe Walk, SE1), erected in 1997, is an exact replica of the historical theater. Some of the seats in his auditorium are located directly under the open sky, so you can visit the performances of the Shakespeare company from mid-May to September 20

To visit the Globus, it is best to take the subway and get to Cannon St or Mansion House stations.

Covent Garden

The Royal Theater in the area of ​​the same name in London was founded in 1732 and was very popular 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 spectator hall of the Covent Garden Theater accommodates 2,268 people.

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

Against the background of other London sights, the building looks outwardly not so impressive, but the design of its interiors makes an indelible impression on the audience.

Piccadilly Circus

Piccadilly Circus is located in the Westminster area. The area was built in 1819. For its construction, it was necessary to demolish a house with a garden, which belonged to Lady Hutton and prevented Regent Street from connecting with the important Piccadilly shopping street.

The main attraction of the area -Memorial Shaftesbari Fountain. The facility is located in the southwestern part of the Piccadilly Circus. It is dedicated to the famous patron Lord Shaftesbari. At the top of the sculptural composition is a winged figure of a naked shooter, symbolizing Anteros, who is “the god of unselfish love.”

The square also houses the underground Criterion Theater, founded in 1874, and the London Pavilion music hall, built in 1859.

At the beginning of the century the building was connected to the Trocadero Center.

Tate Gallery

In a building located at Millbank SW1B3DG, near the Palace of Westminster, tourists can get acquainted with the famous National Collection of British Art. It represents the world's largest collection of paintings, sculptures and graphics by English authors of the 16th and 20th centuries. The collection was founded by the manufacturer Sir Henry Tate. The gallery was opened to the public in 1897.

After 30 years, a wing was attached to the building,which posted the work of foreign artists. In 1987, the Klor Gallery began to operate, which represented one of the most extensive collections of paintings by Turner.

Now you know what interesting architecturalattractions adorn the center of London. In addition, every year the capital of Great Britain becomes the venue for various cultural, sporting and other entertainment events of a global and European scale. They, like historical and architectural monuments, are one of the reasons for the popularity enjoyed by tours to London.