Specializarea Sociologie

Grupa 411
Universitatea Constantin Brancusi, Facultatea de Drept, Relatii Internationale si Stiinte
Administrative

London Icons

Grupa de proiect : Boncu Ionela

Cottea Alexandra Sorina

Content
Foreword ..3
TowerBridge .4
The London Eye 6
Covent Garden ..9
Big Ben .11
Piccadilly Circus ...12
Westminster Abbey13
Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland..14
Bibliography ..16

London Icons
Foreword

From Big Ben to the red telephone box, find out which London icons real Londoners prefer and
why.

London is home to some of the most famous and iconic attractions in the world from Big Ben
and the red telephone box, to black cabs and Tate Modern. With so many sights to choose from,
we asked real Londoners to name their favourite London landmarks, and tell us why they think
they're so special

Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge (built 18861894) is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London which
crosses the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, from which it takes its name, and
has become an iconic symbol of London.

The bridge consists of two towers tied together at the upper level by means of two horizontal
walkways, designed to withstand the horizontal forces exerted by the suspended sections of the
bridge on the landward sides of the towers. The vertical component of the forces in the
suspended sections and the vertical reactions of the two walkways are carried by the two robust
towers. The bascule pivots and operating machinery are housed in the base of each tower. The
bridge's present colour scheme dates from 1977, when it was painted red, white and blue
for Queen Elizabeth II's silver jubilee. Originally it was painted a mid greenish-blue colour. 1
In the second half of the 19th century, increased commercial development in the East End of
London led to a requirement for a new river crossing downstream of London Bridge. A
traditional fixed bridge could not be built because it would cut off access by tall-masted ships to
the port facilities in the Pool of London, between London Bridge and the Tower of London.
A Special Bridge or Subway Committee was formed in 1877, chaired by Sir Albert Joseph
Altman, to find a solution to the river crossing problem. It opened the design of the crossing to
public competition. Over 50 designs were submitted, including one from civil engineer Sir
Joseph Bazalgette. The evaluation of the designs was surrounded by controversy, and it was not

1 Patrick Baty. "Tower Bridge, London. A Report on the Paint Following an Examination of a Number of
Surfaces." 10 October 2010.

until 1884 that a design submitted by Sir Horace Jones, the City Architect (who was also one of
the judges),2 was approved.
Jones' engineer, Sir John Wolfe Barry, devised the idea of a bascule bridge with two towers built
on piers. The central span was split into two equal bascules or leaves, which could be raised to
allow river traffic to pass. The two side-spans were suspension bridges, with the suspension rods
anchored both at the abutments and through rods contained within the bridge's upper walkways.
Construction started in 1887 and took eight years with five major contractors Sir John
Jackson (foundations), Baron Armstrong(hydraulics), William Webster, Sir H.H. Bartlett, and Sir
William Arrol & Co. and employed 432 construction workers. E W Crutwell was the resident
engineer for the construction.
Two massive piers, containing over 70,000 tons of concrete, were sunk into the riverbed to
support the construction. Over 11,000 tons of steel provided the framework for the towers and
walkways. This was then clad in Cornish granite and Portland stone, both to protect the
underlying steelwork and to give the bridge a pleasing appearance.
Jones died in 1887 and George D. Stevenson took over the project. Stevenson replaced Jones's
original brick faade with the more ornate Victorian Gothic style, which makes the bridge a
distinctive landmark, and was intended to harmonise the bridge with the nearby Tower of
London. The total cost of construction was 1,184,000 (equivalent to 118 million in 2014).

The London Eye

The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London.
Also known as the Millennium Wheel, its official name was originally the British
Airways London Eye, then the Merlin Entertainments London Eye, between January 2011 and
2 Roberts, Chris, "Cross River Traffic", Granta, 2005
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August 2014, the EDF Energy London Eye and is now called the London Eye. From late January
2015, the London Eye will be sponsored by Coca-Cola. 3

The entire structure is 135 metres (443 ft) tall and the wheel has a diameter of 120 metres
(394 ft). When erected in 1999 it was theworld's tallest Ferris wheel. Its height was surpassed by
the 160 m (520 ft) Star of Nanchang in 2006, the 165 m (541 ft) Singapore Flyer in 2008, and the
167.6 m (550 ft) High Roller (Las Vegas) in 2014. Supported by an A-frame on one side only,
unlike the taller Nanchang and Singapore wheels, the Eye is described by its operators as "the
world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel".
It is currently Europe's tallest Ferris wheel, and offered the highest public viewing point in
London until it was superseded by the 245-metre (804 ft) observation deck on the 72nd floor
of The Shard, which opened to the public on 1 February 2013. It is the most popular paid tourist
attraction in the United Kingdom with over 3.5 million visitors annually, and has made
many appearances in popular culture.
The London Eye adjoins the western end of Jubilee Gardens (previously the site of the
former Dome of Discovery), on the South Bank of the River Thames between Westminster
Bridge and Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth.
The London Eye was designed by architects Frank Anatole, Nic Bailey, Steve Chilton, Malcolm
Cook, Mark Sparrowhawk, and the husband-and-wife team of Julia Barfield and David Marks.
Mace was responsible for construction management, with Hollandia as the main steelwork
contractor and Tilbury Douglas as the civil contractor. Consulting engineers Tony Gee &
Partners designed the foundation works while Beckett Rankine designed the marine works.

3 "Coca-Cola to sponsor London Eye". Press Association (The Guardian). 16 September 2014.
Retrieved 22 October 2014.

Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners assisted The Tussauds Group in obtaining planning and listed
building consent to alter the wall on the South Bank of the Thames. They also examined and
reported on the implications of a Section 106 agreement attached to the original contract. Later,
they also prepared planning and listed building consent applications for the permanent retention
of the attraction, which involved the co-ordination of an Environmental Statement and the
production of a planning supporting statement detailing the reasons for its retention.
The rim of the Eye is supported by tensioned steel cables and resembles a huge spoked bicycle
wheel. The lighting was redone with LED lighting from Color Kinetics in December 2006 to
allow digital control of the lights as opposed to the manual replacement of gels over fluorescent
tubes.
The wheel was constructed in sections which were floated up the Thames on barges and
assembled lying flat on piled platforms in the river. Once the wheel was complete it was lifted
into an upright position by a strand jack system made by Enerpac. It was first raised at 2 degrees
per hour until it reached 65 degrees, then left in that position for a week while engineers prepared
for the second phase of the lift. The project was European with major components coming from
six countries: the steel was supplied from the UK and fabricated in The Netherlands by the Dutch
company Hollandia, the cables came from Italy, the bearings came from Germany
(FAG/Schaeffler Group), the spindle and hub were cast in the Czech Republic, the capsules were
made by Poma in France (and the glass for these came from Italy), and the electrical components
from the UK.
The wheel's 32 sealed and air-conditioned ovoidal passenger capsules, designed and supplied
by Poma, are attached to the external circumference of the wheel and rotated by electric motors.
Each of the 10-tonne (11-short-ton) capsules represents one of the London Boroughs, and holds
up to 25 people, who are free to walk around inside the capsule, though seating is provided. The
wheel rotates at 26 cm (10 in) per second (about 0.9 km/h or 0.6 mph) so that one revolution
takes about 30 minutes. It does not usually stop to take on passengers; the rotation rate is slow
enough to allow passengers to walk on and off the moving capsules at ground level. It is,
however, stopped to allow disabled or elderly passengers time to embark and disembark safely.

Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St.
Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the
central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is
also known as "Covent Garden". The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre,
north of which is given over to independent shops centred on Neal's Yard and Seven Dials, while
the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the elegant buildings,
theatres and entertainment facilities, including theTheatre Royal, Drury Lane, and the London
Transport Museum.
Though mainly fields until the 16th century, the area was briefly settled when it became the heart
of the Anglo-Saxon trading town of Lundenwic After the town was abandoned, part of the area
was walled off by 1200 for use as arable land and orchards by Westminster Abbey, and was
referred to as "the garden of the Abbey and Convent". The land, now called "the Covent
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Garden", was seized by Henry VIII, and granted to the Earls of Bedford in 1552. The 4th
Earl commissioned Inigo Jones to build some fine houses to attract wealthy tenants. Jones
designed the Italianate arcaded square along with the church of St Paul's. The design of the
square was new to London, and had a significant influence on modern town planning, acting as
the prototype for the laying-out of new estates as London grew. 4 A small open-air fruit and
vegetable market had developed on the south side of the fashionable square by 1654.
Gradually, both the market and the surrounding area fell into disrepute, as taverns, theatres,
coffee-houses and brothels opened up; the gentry moved away, and rakes, wits and playwrights
moved in. By the 18th century it had become a well-known red-light district, attracting notable
prostitutes. An Act of Parliament was drawn up to control the area, and Charles Fowler's neoclassical building was erected in 1830 to cover and help organise the market. The area declined
as a pleasure-ground as the market grew and further buildings were added: the Floral Hall,
Charter Market, and in 1904 the Jubilee Market. By the end of the 1960s traffic congestion was
causing problems, and in 1974 the market relocated to the New Covent Garden Market about
three miles (5 km) south-west at Nine Elms. The central building re-opened as a shopping centre
in 1980, and is now a tourist location containing cafes, pubs, small shops, and a craft market
called the Apple Market, along with another market held in the Jubilee Hall.
Covent Garden, with the postcode WC2, falls within the London

boroughs

of Westminster and Camden, and the parliamentary constituencies of Cities of London and
Westminster and Holborn and St Pancras. The area has been served by the Piccadilly
lineat Covent Garden tube station since 1907; the journey from Leicester Square, at 300 yards, is
the shortest on the London Underground.

Big Ben

4 Nick Lloyd Jones (25 May 2005). "Garden party". The Independent. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
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Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of
Westminster in London, and often extended to refer to the clock and the clock tower.

The

tower is officially known as the Elizabeth Tower, renamed as such to celebrate the Diamond
Jubilee of Elizabeth II (prior to being renamed in 2012 it was known as simply "Clock Tower").
The tower holds the largest four-facedchiming clock in the world and is the third-tallest freestanding clock tower. The tower was completed in 1858 and had its 150th anniversary on 31 May
2009, during which celebratory events took place The tower has become one of the most
prominent symbols of the United Kingdom and is often in the establishing shot of films set in
London.

5 Fowler, H. W. (1976). The Concise Oxford dictionary of current English. First edited by H. W.
Fowler and F. G. Fowler (Sixth edition ed.). Clarendon Press. p. 95.
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Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of
Westminster, built in 1819 to connectRegent Street with Piccadilly. In this context, a circus, from
the Latin word meaning "circle", is a round open space at a street junction.
Piccadilly now links directly to the theatres on Shaftesbury Avenue, as well as the
Haymarket, Coventry Street (onwards to Leicester Square), and Glasshouse Street. The Circus is
close to major shopping and entertainment areas in the West End. Its status as a major traffic
junction has made Piccadilly Circus a busy meeting place and a tourist attraction in its own right.
The Circus is particularly known for its video display and neon signs mounted on the corner
building on the northern side, as well as the Shaftesbury memorial fountain and statue of Eros. It
is surrounded by several notable buildings, including the London Pavilion, Criterion
Restaurant and Criterion Theatre. Directly underneath the plaza is Piccadilly Circus tube station,
part of the London Underground system.

Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, is a large,
mainly Gothic, church in the City of Westminster, London, located just to the west of the Palace
of Westminster. It is one of the most notable religious buildings in the United Kingdom and has
been the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and, later, British monarchs.
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The abbey is a Royal Peculiar and between 1540 and 1556 had the status of a cathedral; the
building is no longer an abbey nor cathedral however, having instead the status since 1560 of a
"Royal Peculiar" a church responsible directly to the Sovereign.
According to a tradition first reported by Sulcard in about 1080, a church was founded at the site
(then known as Thorn Ey (Thorn Island)) in the 7th century, at the time of Mellitus (d. 624), a
Bishop of London. Construction of the present church began in 1245, on the orders of Henry III.6
Since 1066, when Harold Godwinson and William the Conqueror were crowned, the coronations
of English and British monarchs have been held here. Since 1100, there have been at least 16
royal weddings at the abbey. Two were of reigning monarchs (Henry Iand Richard II), although
before 1919 there had been none for some 500 years.

Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

6 History Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 29 April 2011
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801 by the merger of the
Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union.
The principle of ministerial responsibility to the lower House did not develop until the 19th
centurythe House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons both in theory and in
practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected in an antiquated electoral system,
under which constituencies of vastly different sizes existed. Thus, the borough of Old Sarum,
with seven voters, could elect two members, as could the borough of Dunwich, which had almost
completely disappeared into the sea due to land erosion.
In many cases, members of the Upper House also controlled tiny constituencies, known as
pocket or rotten boroughs, and could ensure the election of their relatives or supporters. Many
seats in the House of Commons were "owned" by the Lords. After the reforms of the 19th
century, beginning with the Reform Act 1832, the electoral system in the lower House was much
more regularised. No longer dependent on the upper House for their seats, members of the House
of Commons began to grow more assertive.
The supremacy of the British House of Commons was established in the early 20th century. In
1909, the Commons passed the so-called "People's Budget", which made numerous changes to
the taxation system in a manner detrimental to wealthy landowners. The House of Lords, which
consisted mostly of powerful landowners, rejected the Budget. On the basis of the Budget's
popularity and the Lords' consequent unpopularity, the Liberal Party narrowly won two general
elections in 1910.
Using the result as a mandate, the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, introduced the
Parliament bill, which sought to restrict the powers of the House of Lords. (He did not
reintroduce the land tax provision of the People's Budget). When the Lords refused to pass the
bill, Asquith countered with a promise extracted from the King in secret before the second
general election of 1910 and requested the creation of several hundred Liberal peers so as to
erase the Conservative majority in the House of Lords. In the face of such a threat, the House of
Lords narrowly passed the bill.
The Parliament Act 1911, as it became, prevented the Lords from blocking a money bill (a bill
dealing with taxation), and allowed them to delay any other bill for a maximum of three sessions
(reduced to two sessions in 1949), after which it could become law over their objections.
However, regardless of the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949, the House of Lords has always

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retained the unrestricted power to be able to block and veto any bill outright which attempts to
extend the life of a parliament.
In conclusion come and visit London for the best experience of your life.

Bibliography

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Top 10 Londra de la Editura Litera

Ghidul Michelin Londra de la Meteor Press

Londra. Ghid de cltorie de la Editura Corint

Londra. Ghid turistic de la Editura Niculescu

http://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/sightseeing/tourist-attraction/london-icons?
ref=mosaic
http://www.westminster-abbey.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom

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