London

tourist
attract
ions
ENJOY IT

By V
ASIL
ACH
I CAT
ALIN
A
Traditions of London

• Important Festivals of London:

• London has a rich cultural heritage. Many colorful, vibrant, and joyful
festivals are celebrated by the people of London.
• Some of the festivals that are celebrated throughout London are Guy
Fawkes Night, New Year's Day Parade, Regent Streets Festival, and City
of London Festival. Guy Fawkes Night is celebrated on the 5th of
November to remember the failure of outlaw Guy Fawkes to blow up the
Parliament for his religious beliefs. On this cold November night, people
gather in parks to appreciate the display of fireworks and to burn an effigy
of the brigand, Guy Fawkes, in a bonfire. Along with this, many parks have
fairs, food stalls, and games. The party hosted by Battersea Park of
London is extremely popular among the people of London.
Customs and Traditions:
• Outside the Buckingham Palace, you can see guards dressed in their
trademark bright red uniforms accompanied by bearskin hats. These
guards are the bodyguards of the Queen. Every day, a new troop of thirty
guards march to the palace and replace the old guards. This is called the
Changing of the Guards ceremony. This ceremony was started in the year
1660, since which time the King or Queen of England have been guarded
by the Household Troops.
Guy Fawkes Night
New Year's Day Parade
Regent Streets Festival
City of London Festival
City of London Festival
Buckingham Palace
• Buckingham Palace in London is the official residence of British
monarchs.
The palace was named after "Buckingham House, built in 1703,
that King George III bought it in 1761 and increased it, turning it
into a vast palace as today. Since 1837, when Queen Victoria
moved here, the palace with 600 rooms was living British monarch.
Queen Victoria is sovereign who brought the custom to display the
flag on the building as a sign that the king or queen is in the
capital. Hotel Palace have become accessible to visitors in 1990,
after the powerful fire that hit part of Windsor Castle. English
company then refused finance repairs, so that Queen Elizabeth
had to allow tourists access to the palace for raising funds for the
reconstruction of the second to residences.
Here Transfiguration Guard ceremony takes place daily at 11:30
am to delight tourists.
Palace of
Westminster
• Palace of Westminster, known as the Houses of Parliament is where the
two houses of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland are: House of Lords and House of Commons.
Westminster Palace is close to another government building called
Whitehall. The current set of Westminster Palace was built between 1837
and 1860 in neo-Gothic, after the devastating fire of 1834 which destroyed
almost all the old Parliament.
Full of historical load and attraction for millions of tourists every year, the
Palace of Westminster is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites
program, together with St. Margaret Church and Westminster Abbey, which
is bordered. Westminster Abbey was built in XI century by Edward The
Confessor. The building is the royal ceremonies, no less than 38 Having a
coronation here. Also here were held in 1997, Princess Diana's funeral.
The current version whole Palace of Westminster is rebuilt between 1837
and 1860 between the Gothic style after the devastating fire of 1834
destroyed almost all former British parliament, built by William II at the end
of XI century.
With an approximately rectangular shape, the Parliament Palace spreads
on an area of over 30 000 square meters. He is flanked by two towers of
about one hundred meters, Victoria Tower and the famous clock tower, Big
Ben.
Palace of
Westminster
 Westminster Abbey
• Westminster Abbey is the most famous church in London.
Construction was started in the eleventh century. The tomb of
most English kings and queens, but more famous people.
"Poets corner" bring honor writers of the United Kingdom.
Almost all English monarchs coronation took place in the
abbey.
The real name of the cathedral is "collegial church of Saint
Peter". Abbey is included in the UNESCO world heritage.
Westminster Abbey is the oldest and most famous of the
cathedrals in London. There was a house of worship since the
VII century, when according to legend, St Peter founded a
church bearing his name. The actual building is the result of
reconstruction which was begun by Henry III in 1245, then
continued in 1745. Many monarchs were crowned in the Abbey
for the coronation of Harold II in 1066, and the church hosts the
graves of many kings and queens, including Elizabeth I, Mary,
Queen of Scotland and Henry VII, includes the graves of poets
and heroes politicians war, including "Unknown Soldier", who
fought in World War.
Westminster Abbey
 Apsley House
• Apsley House, also known as Number One, London, was the
London residence of the Dukes of Wellington and stands alone
at Hyde Park Corner, on the south-east corner of Hyde Park,
facing south towards the busy traffic circulation system. It is a
grade I listed building.
• The house is now run by English Heritage and is open to the
public as a museum and art gallery, although His Grace the 8th
Duke of Wellington still uses part of the building as a part-time
residence. It is sometimes referred to as the Wellington
Museum. It is perhaps the only preserved example of an
English aristocratic town house from its period. The practice has
been to maintain the rooms as far as possible in the original
style and decor. It contains the 1st Duke's collection of
paintings, porcelain, the silver centrepiece made for the Duke in
Portugal, c 1815, sculpture and furniture. Antonio Canova’s
heroic marble nude of Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker
made 1802-10, holding a gilded Nike in the palm of his right
hand, and standing 3.45 metres to the raised left hand holding a
staff. It was set up for a time in the Louvre and was bought by
the Government for Wellington in 1816 (Pevsner) and stands in
Adam's Stairwell.
Apsley House
 Hyde Park
• Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, England and one of the
Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner. The park is divided in
two by the Serpentine. The park is contiguous with Kensington Gardens;
although often still assumed to be part of Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens has
been technically separate since 1728, when Queen Caroline made a division
between the two. Hyde Park is 142 hectares (350 acres) and Kensington
Gardens is 111 hectares (275 acres), giving an overall area of 253 hectares
(625 acres), making the combined area larger than the Principality of Monaco
(196 hectares or 484 acres), but smaller than New York City's Central Park (341
hectares or 843 acres). To the southeast (but outside of the park) is Hyde Park
Corner. Although, during daylight, the two parks look seamlessly into each
other, Kensington Gardens closes at dusk but Hyde Park remains open
throughout the year from 5 am until midnight. The park was the site of The Great
Exhibition of 1851, for which the Crystal Palace was designed by Joseph
Paxton.
•
• Hyde Park ca. 1833: Rotten Row is "The King's Private Road".
• The park has become a traditional location for mass demonstrations. The
Chartists, the Reform League, the Suffragettes and the Stop The War Coalition
have all held protests in the park. Many protestors on the Liberty and Livelihood
March in 2002 started their march from Hyde Park.
• On 20 July 1982 in the Hyde Park and Regents Park bombings, two bombs
linked to the Provisional Irish Republican Army caused the death of eight
members of the Household Cavalry and the Royal Green Jackets and seven
horses.
Hyde Park
Hyde Park
Kensington Palace
• Kensington Palace is a royal residence
located in London.
Queen Victoria lived in this palace built in
the eighteenth century to rise to the
throne. Palace is the royal family still
resides. Today is the official residence of
the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the
Duke and Duchess of Kent and Prince and
Princess Michael of Kent. Until 1997 was
the official residence of Diana, Princess of
Wales.
Kensington Palace
 British Museum
• The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture
situated in London. Its collections, which number more than seven
million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in
the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and
documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the
present.
• The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the
collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. The
museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759 in Montagu
House in Bloomsbury, on the site of the current museum building.
Its expansion over the following two and a half centuries has
resulted in the creation of several branch institutions, the first being
the British Museum (Natural History) in South Kensington in 1887.
Some objects in the collection, most notably the Elgin Marbles from
the Parthenon, are the objects of intense controversy and calls for
restitution to their countries of origin.
• Until 1997, when the British Library (previously centred on the
Round Reading Room) moved to a new site, the British Museum
was unique in that it housed both a national museum of antiquities
and a national library in the same building. The museum is a non-
departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture,
Media and Sport, and as with all other national museums in the
United Kingdom it charges no admission fee. Since 2001 the
director of the museum has been Neil MacGregor.
British Museum
British Museum
British Museum
 Tower of London
• Tower of London or the White Tower is the oldest building in
London, located on the north bank of the Thames, whose
construction was begun by William the Conqueror around 1076.
William II century work that began over a William the Conqueror, in
1097, built a wall surrounding the tower. But responsible for the
look you want is today the Tower of London is King Henry VIII, who
raised the corners of walls and towers that surround the Tower.
Over time served as a fortress but as a royal residence (the last
one to live there was King Charles II). There was Mint,
Astronomical Observatory, and for 300 years the tower was even
Royal zoo premises. However the best known part of this medieval
fortress is prison - in his underground family representatives
spending last moment fallen into disfavor English king. Here he
killed Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, everything here
has been and execution Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry
VIII. Therefore it is believed that the tower is the most often
haunted by spirits. At night, the corridors and rooms of the Tower is
haunted by the spirits of the imprisoned and sentenced to death
unjustly.
Tower of London
Tower of London
 Tower Bridge
• Despite its medieval appearance, London
Bridge has celebrated the 100 year
anniversary in June 1994.Built on a
metallic frame dressed in stone, he was
intentionally built in Gothic style to match
the famous tower nearby. It is famous for
his huge arms dump trucks, which lifts up
to allow the big ships to cross. Now ,in our
days, this happens quite rarely, but in the
past when traffic on the Thames was very
intense, high-arm bridge were lifted up
about five times a day.
Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge at night
Tower Bridge
 St. Paul ‘s Cathedral
• St Paul's Cathedral is the Anglican
cathedral on Ludgate Hill in the City of
London and the seat of the Bishop of
London. The present building dates from the
17th century and is generally reckoned to be
London's fifth St Paul's Cathedral, not
counting every major medieval
reconstruction as a new cathedral. The
cathedral sits on the highest point of the City
of London, which originated as the Roman
trading post of Londinium situated on the
River Thames. The cathedral is one of
London's most visited sights.
• The nearest London Underground station is
St. Paul's.
 St. Paul ‘s Cathedral
Today
St Paul's Cathedral today is a busy working church. Daily services are held
every day to which all are welcome to attend. Whilst the Cathedral charges for
those who wish to sightsee, it does not charge for people who want to
worship. Those attending services at St Paul's do so at no cost. People
seeking a place to be quiet and pray are admitted to the St Dunstan's Chapel
free of charge. Admission on Sundays for all services is free and there is no
sightseeing.
• The Royal Family holds most of their important marriages, christenings and
funerals at Westminster Abbey, but St Paul's was used for the marriage of
Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer. The religious service for
Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee was also celebrated there.
• In 2001, Britain's memorial service to honour the victims of the September 11,
2001 attacks was held at the cathedral, attended by the Royal Family and
then-U.S. ambassador William Farish. Prince Philip spoke, as did Farish, and
Farish said in 2004 in The Times just before he resigned as ambassador that
this service showed the strong relationship between the US and Britain. On 1
November 2005, it held a memorial service for the 7 July bombings.
• It is possible to climb the 530 steps to the Golden Gallery, where there are
panoramic views of London. In 2000, the cathedral began a major restoration
programme to celebrate the 300th anniversary of its 'topping out'. A ceremony
to celebrate the anniversary was directed by Patrick Garland. The restoration
programme cost £40 million, and involves repair and cleaning of the building,
and improvement of visitor facilities, such as accessibility for the disabled, and
provision of additional educational facilities. The programme of cleaning and
repairs will be finished by 2011.
St. Paul ‘s Cathedral
Inside St. Paul ‘s
Cathedral
 London Eye
• The Merlin Entertainments London Eye (known more
simply as The London Eye, and also known as the
Millennium Wheel), at a height of 135 metres (443 ft), is the
largest Ferris wheel in Europe, and has become the most
popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom, visited
by over three million people in one year. At the time it was
erected, in 1999, it was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world,
until it was surpassed by the Star of Nanchang (160 m) in
May 2006, and then the Singapore Flyer (165 m) on 11
February 2008. However, it is still described by its operators
as "the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel" (as the
entire structure is supported by an A-frame on one side only).
• The London Eye is located at the western end of Jubilee
Gardens, on the South Bank of the River Thames in London,
England, between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford
Bridge. The site is adjacent to that of the former Dome of
Discovery, which was built for the Festival of Britain in 1951.
London Eye
London Eye
LONDON
LONDON
LONDON