Big Ben description and photos - Great Britain: London (Topic)

Big Ben description and photos - Great Britain: London. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Big Ben.

Photo and description

Big Ben (Big Ben) is the nickname for the main bell of the clock tower of Westminster Palace.

The famous bell

There is a tradition to baptize church bells and give them the name of a saint, but this bell most likely got its nickname in honor of Sir Benjamin Hall, who directed the installation bells. Weighing almost 14 tons and a height of three meters, this is the second largest bell in Great Britain after Big Paul - the bell of St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

Over time, Big Ben began to be called not only a bell, but also a clock , and the entire clock tower. The tower, the last work of the architect Augustus Pugin, was built in 1858 in the neo-Gothic style. This is part of Westminster Palace, rebuilt after the fire in 1834. The tower is 96.3 meters high. Unfortunately, foreign tourists are not allowed inside the tower, but citizens of the United Kingdom can visit it on a guided tour with a member of Parliament. There is no elevator in the tower, 334 stone steps lead upstairs.

The symbol of London

The tower clock is the world's largest chime with 4 dials. The diameter of their dial is about 7 meters, the length of the hour hand is 2.7 meters, and the minute hand is 4.3 meters. The watch is famous for its precision. Near the top of the pendulum are old one penny coins that are used to adjust the mechanism. It is enough to put a coin on the pendulum, and the clock will change by 0.4 seconds per day. On New Year's Eve 1962, heavy snowfall caused the arrows to freeze, they began to move more slowly, and the pendulum, as planned, was disconnected from the main mechanism to avoid breakdowns and was swinging idle. Big Ben heralded the 1962 offensive with a ten-minute delay.

Big Ben has become London's calling card and symbol. If in some film it is necessary to show that the action takes place in the UK, the silhouette of Big Ben looms in the background. It is used in the intro to a news program, and the chimes are used as callsigns for the BBC.

This is interesting!

• Big Ben is officially named after St. Stephen.
• The Big Ben bell has a crack, which causes a specific resonating sound produced by it.
• Due to changes in the state of the ground, the tower gradually deviates from the vertical.


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Topic: Big Ben description and photos - Great Britain: London.


Author: Kelly Costine