Symbols of London: a unique look of the city

The symbols of London - a topic that you can talk about for days, after all, the capital of England for more than 1900 years! During this time, native Englishmen and tourists formed the city the image of "the home of the world market and the world financial center." In addition, beginning in 43 AD, London has become a 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 should last several centuries, in order to become a visiting card of the city. A huge Ferris wheel, whose height is 135 meters, with pleasure will 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 form of an egg, each of which can accommodate no more than 25 passengers. This number of capsules is not accidental: they are the symbol of 32 districts of London.

The design of the Ferris wheel belongs to the couple of architects D. Marx and J. Barfield. However, in 1993 they did not win the contest, after which it was decided to build an attraction on their own. The financial issue was decided by the meeting with the head of the British airline British Airways.

The "eye" is built of a huge number of parts that were first crossed on barges along the River Thames, and later assembled, lying on water platforms. When the attraction was mounted, the special system began to lift it to a vertical position of two degrees per hour until the wheel position reached 65 degrees.

Big Ben

Describing the symbols of London, it is impossible not to remember the largest of the five Westminster bells. It's about the famous Big Ben. At the time of creation (1859) he was the heaviest in the Kingdom. It is believed that the tower is named after Benjamin Hall, who was the curator of construction works. There is another version, which says that the name of the bell was given by the popular heavyweight boxer Benjamin County. To date, the meaning of guessing, in honor of who is named Big Ben, no, because 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. Piugin. The tower is made in the style of Gothic Revival, whose height, including the spire, is 96.3 meters. The clock itself was designed by the astronomer J. Airy and E. Beckett. The plan was implemented by EJ Dent, after his death the construction was continued by Frederic Dent - his adoptive son.

The pendulum of the Big Ben watch is located in a windproof box, its length is four meters, and it weighs 300 kg. The stroke of the pendulum is equal to two seconds. The total weight of the mechanism is 5 tons, the length of the shooters is 4.2 and 2.7 meters. The diameter of the four dials is seven meters, each marked with a Latin "God Save Our Queen Victoria First".

The London Bobby

The London policeman was put on patrol in the streets of Scotland Yard, the capital, which, in turn, was founded by Robert Peel in 1829. A tall black helmet, which flaunts on the heads of policemen, can easily be seen from afar. A diminutive title for London law enforcement officers is Bobby, who went from the short name Peel - Bob.

At first, the patrol service consisted of 68 employees. At the moment, the London police are 27 thousand people who are responsible for the seven millionth population and the territory of 787 square meters. Km. The authority of a London policeman is growing steadily, as is the respect for residents and guests of the capital.

Phone booth

Famous symbols of London can not be imagined without a bright red booth in which a payphone is located. They can be found both throughout the UK and in its former colonies. The first type of street phone was cream colored, made of concrete. The number of such booths was not large, but some of them can still be seen on the streets of Britain.

In 1924, architect G. Scott won the competition, developing a new design of street payphones. The Post Office has made several corrections to the material (not steel, and cast iron) and color (not gray, but red, which can easily be seen in Foggy Albion). Subsequently, a number of different design was developed, but the last was the design executed in 1996.

Today the number of red telephone booths is inexorably decreasing due to the increased use of mobile communications. Nevertheless, most of them continue their work for their intended purpose, and some inside have been converted into ATMs, vending machines and Wi-Fi zones.