London snow globes - main landmarks
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom. It has a population of about 9 million. The River Thames flows through the city and it has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years. It has many famous sites and buildings which are represented within its snow globes, some of which are found here.
The (Elizabeth) clock tower at the end of the Palace of Westminster has 5 bells, the main one of which is called Big Ben. Its name may be derived from Sir Benjamin Hall, who oversaw its installation.
The Tower was completed in 1859 and its clock still uses its original mechanism. London buses seem to be an essential addition to these globes.
Buckingham Palace (formerly house) was built from on the site of a 1624 house. This house had many owners and tenants until, in 1698, it was let to the man who gave the house its name – John Sheffield, later the Duke of Buckingham. The Duke found the house old-fashioned, so it was demolished to create the new ‘Buckingham House’ which was then acquired and enhanced by George III in 1761 as a private residence for the royal family. It still remains as the official London residence and administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The globe also shows the soldiers of the King's Guard marching out of the main gate
Tower Bridge (not to be confused with the more moderate looking London Bridge nearby) is a bascule, suspension and former cantilever bridge in London. It was built between 1886 and 1894 to allow easier crossing of the River Thames by the London population on both sides of the river. More than 50 designs were submitted to the City of London Corporation when the idea was first proposed. Tower Bridge opens its bascules 800 times a year to allow ships through, but back in 1894, the Tower Bridge bascules were lifted 6,194 times.
Its original colour was chocolate brown. In 1977 it was painted red, white, and blue to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee. Much later it took on the bright blue and white colours seen today. 40,000 people and 21,000 vehicles cross it on average per day. The first globe shows the nearby Tower of London behind the bridge, a medieval castle, home to the Crown Jewels and Beefeater sentries.
A Roman temple to Diana once stood on this site. A Christian cathedral was dedicated to St. Paul in 604 AD. There have been a number of cathedrals here, including one destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666.
Christopher Wren subsequently designed and oversaw the construction of the present cathedral from 1675 to 1710,
St Paul's boasts one of the biggest domes in the world and the cross at the top stands 366 feet (112 metres) above ground.
Many notables have been buried here including Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, and Wren himself, who was the first to be interred there. This globe has a bus which moves from side to side in front
Trafalgar Square is an open square in Central London. The square was named after the Battle of Trafalgar, Lord Nelson's British naval victory in the Napoleonic Wars over France and Spain in 1805 off the coast of Cape Trafalgar, South Spain.
The focal point is the 169-foot Nelson's Column at its centre guarded by four lion statues.
The BT Tower has also been known in the past as GPO Tower, Post Office Tower, Museum Radio Tower and the Telecom Tower. The whole structure is 620 feet (189 m).and it was the tallest building in London until 1980. There used to be a revolving restaurant in the tower, now long gone. Originally it transmitted military messages as well as phone calls so did not appear on any maps as it was protected by the Official Secrets Act. Its circular design was also influenced by this shape resisiting nuclear explosions better than rectangle ones.
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Piccadilly Circus is a lively, public space in London's West End. Built in 1819 the "circus" relates to a round open space. The statue of Anteros often mistaken for Eros was added in 1893, followed by the large electric billboards in 1923.
