Big Ben and London Bridge

Vocabulary: town-քաղաք, square-հրապարակ, քառակուսի, main-գլխավոր, cinema-կինոթատրոն, theatre-թատրոն, church-եկեղեցի, road-ճանապարհ.

Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London and is usually extended to refer to both the clock and the clock tower. The tower in which Big Ben is located is officially called the Elizabeth Tower; originally just the Clock Tower, it was renamed in 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

The tower was designed by Augustus Pugin in a neo-gothic style. When completed in 1859, it was “the prince of timekeepers: the biggest, most accurate four-faced striking and chiming clock in the world”. It stands 315 feet (96 m) tall.  On 31 May 2009, celebrations were held to mark the tower’s 150th anniversary.

Big Ben is the largest of five bells and weighs 13 ¹⁄₂ long tons. It was the largest bell in the United Kingdom for 23 years. The origin of the bell’s nickname is open to question; it may be named after Sir Benjamin Hall, who oversaw its installation, or boxing heavyweight champion Benjamin Caunt.

A British cultural icon, recognised all over the world, the tower is one of the most prominent symbols of the United Kingdom.The clock tower has been part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

On 21 August 2017, a four-year schedule of renovation works began on the tower, which are to include the addition of a lift. There are also plans to re-glaze and repaint its dials. With a few exceptions, such as New Year’s Eve and Remembrance Sunday, the bells are to be silent until the work has been completed in the 2020s.

 

London Bridge

Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of  London and Southwark, in central London. It replaced a 19th-century stone-arched bridge, which in turn superseded a 600-year-old stone-built medieval structure.

The current bridge stands at the western end of the Pool of London and is positioned 30 metres (98 ft) upstream from previous alignments. Until Putney Bridge opened in 1729, London Bridge was the only road-crossing of the Thames. London Bridge has been depicted in its several forms, in art, literature, and songs, including the nursery rhyme “London Bridge Is Falling Down”.