When there arouses question of describing London with reference to its landmark then one can easily comes across a long list of places with an equal importance from historical as well as contemporary perspective. Below is provided a very brief list of the must-see landmarks of the London.
• Big Ben: This massive 13nd half ton watch is a famous London clock face. It was designed by Charles Barry in 1956 and chimed its first tune at the end of the House of parliament. This clock was designed and developed by Charles Barry in 1856. It took nearly 13 years for it to be completed. The mechanism of the clock was designed by London’s top barrister of the day, Edmund Beckett Dension. The entire clock is consisted of one big bell and four smaller bells at the side. The clock had broken down previously in history many times. The most famous occasion it was broken down it was in December 1962 when heavy snow affected the temperature of the machine mechanism and it chimed ten minutes late on New Years Eve.
Big Ben
• Buckingham Palace: Buckingham Palace is the residential place for living of the Her Majesty the Queen of England. It was constructed by the 1st Duke of Buckingham in 1702. Initially it was constructed as a country mansion at the edge of St. James’s park but the exponential expansion of the city provided it a central place. George III purchased it in 1762, and grandeur embellishments by King George IV turned it into a magnificent royal home. The palace has total 661 rooms. Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh keeps twelve rooms in the north wing as against the 40 acre gardens. The State Apartments that also involves Ballroom, Music Room and Throne Room is too reserved for official business. These State Rooms can be seen during the Buckingham Palace Tour. The tour visits just 19 of the Palace’s 661 rooms.
Buckingham Palace
• Cleopatra’s Needle: The name is here referred to three Ancient Egyptian obelisks as re-erected at popular cities of London, Paris and New York around in nineteenth century. Despite being obelisks as older they are some how misnamed and has not any direct or indirect connection to Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt. It was quarry at Aswan around 1457 BC and dates back to the time and period of Pharaoh Tuthmose III. After the defeat of Napoleon in the 19th-century by British, Viceroy of Egypt Mohammed Ali commemorated the victory with a gift of ancient mason. However, Cleopatra’s Needle’s excessive weight led the journey of the mason to delay by several decades to London.
• Downing Street: Number 10 Downing Street has been the conventional home of British Prime Minister since 1731. Though appearing modest from outside the Downing Street is center of world famous activities and places to wonder and have amazement. The building was constructed by Sir Downing. For more over two hundred years this street is official residences of the two most senior British cabinet ministers, the First one is First Lord of the Treasury an office kept by the Prime minister of the United Kingdom and the Second Lord of the Treasury an office kept by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Once there people had liberty to ask questions to their leaders and came in and out of No.10 but this all changed since 1989, when IRA started bombing London Thatcher tightened up the security, and the closest now have a big iron gate at the corner.
10 Downing Street
• Eros Statue: The bright lights of Piccadilly Circus and the statue of Eros have earned immeasurable reputation among London landmarks. Though against the common conviction that it resembles the Greek God of love, contrary it shows up the Greek God of love. The statue was erected in 1892 to commemorate Anthony Cooper, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, whose tireless work for the poor and mentally ill led to calls for a memorial.
• Houses of Parliament: The Houses of Parliament or the ‘Place of Westminster’ is home to the British Government; it is situated at the similar spot near, where Canute the Great built a royal palace on the site. The building apart from parliamentarian activities were also been used for ceremonies and coronation banquets and the last one occurred in late 1821.
• Kensington Palace: Kensington Palace were been used by British royalty for centuries as residential place for royalty including Princess Diana. It has been a residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century. Today it is the official residence of The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester; the Duke and Duchess of Kent; and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Kensington Palace is also used on an unofficial basis by Prince Harry, as well as his cousin Zara Phillips. The nearest tubes to Kendsington Palace are Queensway, Bayswater, High Street Kensington and Gloucester Road.
Kensington palace
• London Eye: The British Airways London Eye – or ‘Millennium Wheel’ – is the largest ferris wheel in the world. It is huge 135 meter tall Ferris wheel as situated on the banks of the River Thames in Central London, England. It is one of the most popular attractions in the UK and is visited by nearly 3.5 million people annually.
• Mansion House: Mansion House in the heart of the City, and is the official home of the Lord Mayor of London. It is used for many a times for official activities like an annual dinner hosted by the Lord Mayor, at which the Chancellor of the Exchequer occasionally gives speech. It was constructed between 1739 and 1752 in the fashionable Palladian style by the City of London surveyor and architect George Dance the Elder
• Marble Arch: It was initially a part of Buckingham Palace that later moved to Hyde Park Corner. It is a Carrara-marble monument at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane, and Edgware Road opposite to Hyde Park in London, England. With referenced to history it were the members of the royal family and the King’s Tropp, Royal Horse Artillery are only allowed to pass through the arch in ceremonial processions.
• Monument: The Monument mourns the death and damage caused by the Great Fire of London in 1666. It is a 202ft tall stone Roman Doric column in the City of London, England close to the northern end of London Bridge. It is standing tall at Monument Street and Fish Street Hill, 202 ft (61.57 metres) the place where Great Fire of London started in 1666. The architecture of the monument consists a fluted Doric column constructed of Portland stone having gilded urn of fire and was designed by Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke.
• Nelson’s Column: This seventeen feet taller column was constructed during 1840 and 1843 to memorize the death of Admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The 5.5 m (18 ft) statue of Nelson stands over 46 m (151 ft) Foggintor granite column. Monument was designed by architect William Railton in 1838, and was constructed by firm Peto & Grissell. It also has symbolic reference to Adolf Hitler’s plan to invade Britain, Operation Sealion, and in case of successful occurrence and completion of invasion, he had planned to move the Column to Berlin.
• O2 Arena (Millennium Dome): This is the largest single-roofed building in the world and is tall enough to accommodate Nelson’s Column. This large dome shaped building was constructed to employ and exploit the Millennium Experience a huge exhibition celebrating activity that started with the beginning of new Millennium. Situated at the Greenwich Peninsula in South East London, England, the exhibition open for public on January 1st 2000 and was organized till 31 December 2000.
O2 London