Great Britain, London, Westminster Palace - the place where Big Ben is located, recognizable by the whole world symbol of England. Considering the sights of London without looking at Big Ben is an unforgivable mistake that most tourists, of course, do not commit. Excursions accompanied by fascinating tales of a historical building are held here daily.
Name Big Ben
Initially, the name Big Ben received a bell located in the tower. Compared with five other bells of the structure, it is the largest and weighs 13 tons. The building, erected in 1858, was called the Clock Tower, but eventually the people left the famous Big Ben and was entrenched as a whole behind this masterpiece of architecture. By the way, until now historians and researchers can not reliably state why this is called Big Ben. The explanation is simple: Big is big, Ben is an abbreviated name Benjamin, but what is Benjamin talking about? Some believe that this way immortalized the engineer and the policy of Benjamin Hall, who directed the casting of the bell, the second - that the honor was given to the boxer Benjamin Kaunt, who competed in the heavyweight division.
Big Ben Building
The clock tower was part of the Palace of Westminster, since 1288, but as a result of the fire of 1834 it was destroyed. It was decided to engage in the design and construction of a new one - this is how the story of Big Ben began. The architect, Ogests Pugin, is the one who built Big Ben, which is still the largest clock tower in the world. True, the creator died earlier than he saw the result of his projects, but this did not stop to finish building the tower in 1858, and in 1859 to run the clockwork, which has not stopped since.
Clock tower
Big Ben in London is famous not only for its size, but also for its accuracy. This is the merit of the designers and "keepers" of the mechanism. Every two days the mechanism is checked and lubricated. However, during the creation of the watch, the question of accuracy became controversial - one of the authors of the astronomer George Eyri was convinced that the mechanism should work with accuracy to a second, while the mechanic Valiami doubted this need and allowed the possibility of inaccuracies. Fortunately, after five years of disagreement, the arguments of the pedantic astronomer did their job, and the designer Edward Dent managed to realize the idea. The Big Ben clock faces the four sides of the world, each dial is framed in an iron frame and constructed of opal. The arrows were initially cast-iron, but in the process of installation it turned out that they were too heavy, so only the hour hand remained cast from the cast iron, and for the minutes one had to use a copper sheet.
Big Ben in Figures
The figures describing London's Big Ben are impressive:
- the height of Big Ben is 96.3 m;
- the clock rises 55 m above the ground;
- weighs the entire clock mechanism of 5 tons;
- weight of the hour pendulum 300kg;
- For a year the minute hands pass the path to 190 km;
- the tower of Big Ben is rejected by 22cm.
Interesting facts about Big Ben
There are a lot of interesting facts about Big Ben, which is only a mystery with the origin of the name or the size of the structure. Let's share some more:
- The error of the clock mechanism, which oscillates within 1.5-2 seconds, is corrected so far with the help of a coin - the old
English penny. It is simply put on a pendulum, so the movement of time can be accelerated by 2.5 seconds per day. - To reach the top of the tower you can only walk on 334 steps. Unfortunately, there is no entrance for tourists.
- On each dial is made the Latin inscription "God save our Queen Victoria I".
- New Year's battle of the Big Ben clock has become a tradition since 1923, when on the air the BBC channel broadcast the sound of chimes.
Another interesting landmark of the city is the famous British Museum .