One of the main places of pilgrimage for tourists is the Tower of London, standing by the river on eastern border ancient city fortifications. Despite all the publicity gimmicks and buzzwords, it remains one of the most remarkable buildings in London and the site of some glorious events that all tourists and Londoners should visit at least once.
Known mainly as a place of imprisonment and execution, the Tower managed to be a royal residence, an arsenal, a mint, a menagerie, an observatory and a repository of royal regalia - a function that it still performs today.
To orient yourself before exploring the Tower on your own, you should take part in one of the free tours, which are held about once every half an hour by one of the beefeaters (guardians Tower of London). Today, visitors enter the Tower along Water Lane, but in the old days, most prisoners got there through Traitors' Gate, overlooking the waterfront.
Nearby is the Bloody Tower - the main entrance to the prison cells. Here in 1483 "for their own safety" 12-year-old Edward V and his 10-year-old brother were imprisoned on the orders of their uncle, who later became king Richard III. It was here that Walter Reilly was imprisoned three times.
The original "Tower" was the White Tower, which is located in the center of the Inner Prison. Its construction began in 1076. Now there are exhibitions from the collection of the Royal Arsenal (Royal Armories). Even if you are not at all interested in military affairs, be sure to visit the chapel of St. John - a beautiful Norman building on the third floor, which was completed in 1080.
This is the oldest surviving original church building in . To the west of the White Tower is Tower Green, a lawn where high-profile individuals were executed, including Anne Boleyn and her cousin Catherine Howard (second and fifth wives of Henry VIII).
Waterloo Barracks, north of the White Tower, houses the Crown Jewels, for which crowds of people flock here. However, unfortunately, the inspection passes very quickly, especially during peak hours, when, moving in line, people see the exhibits for only 28 seconds.
The oldest of the regalia is the 12th-century Anointing Spoon, but most of the items are from the later Commonwealth era (1649-1660), when many of the royal treasures were melted down into coins or sold. Among the jewels are three of the largest cut diamonds, including the legendary Kohinoor, placed in the crown. british empire in 1937 when Queen Victoria was crowned.
Tower Bridge competes with Big Ben for the title of the most famous. Built in 1894, its Neo-Gothic piers are clad in Cornish granite and Portland stone and have a steel frame, which at the time represented a significant technical achievement. This allows you to raise the bridge for the passage large ships along the river Thames.
The opening of the bridge is an impressive sight. Find out in advance the actual time of the bridge. After paying the entrance fee, you need to use the elevator to go up the elevated walkways that link the tops of the towers.
The tracks were closed from 1909 to 1982 due to the fact that they were chosen by girls of easy virtue and suicides. On the south side of the bridge you will see lifting mechanism, powered by steam (now electrified). You can see the giant boiler boilers, which are now out of action.
Tower Bridge construction
Tower Bridge in London was designed by renowned architect Horace Johnson. drawbridge, which is 244 meters long with two towers standing on intermediate supports 65 meters high. The central span between the towers, which is 61 meters long, is divided into two lifting wings, designed to allow ships to pass through, which can rise up to an angle of 83 °.
Each of the wings weighs about two thousand tons and is equipped with a counterweight that minimizes the necessary effort required to raise the bridge in a minute. Initially, the span was set in motion with the help of a water hydraulic system, with a working pressure of 50 bar. Water was accumulated by two steam plants with a total capacity of 360 hp. The system was created by W. G. Armstrong Mitchell.
In 1974, the water hydraulic system was replaced with an electrically driven oil system. For the convenience of pedestrians, the design of the bridge provided for the possibility of crossing it even during the process of opening the span.
For this purpose, in addition to the standard sidewalks located along the edges of the carriageway, pedestrian galleries were designed and introduced in the middle part, which connect the towers at a height of 44 meters. To get to the galleries was possible with the help of stairs located inside the towers themselves.
Since 1982, the galleries have been used exclusively as an observation deck and museum. It should be noted that the construction of pedestrian galleries and towers required more than 11,000 tons of steel. For better protection metal structures from corrosion, the towers of the Tower Bridge were lined with stone. The architectural style of the constructed buildings is defined as Gothic. total cost of the constructed structure is £1,184,000.
In contact with
Drawbridge over the Thames in central London. Tower Bridge is perhaps the main attraction of the British capital. The name of this symbol of the city comes from the nearby Tower of London. Tower Bridge is one of several London bridges owned by the City Bridge Trust, a charitable organization run by the City of London Corporation.
The bridge consists of two towers, connected at the upper level by two horizontal passages, opposing the horizontal forces directed from the suspended sections of the bridge to the left and right. The vertical component of forces in the suspended sections and the vertical reaction from two transitions is compensated by two stable towers. The centers of the movable trusses of the bridge and the control mechanisms are located at the base of the towers. It acquired its current colors in 1977, when it was painted white, red and blue before the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations. Prior to that, it was chocolate brown.
Sometimes mistakenly confused with London Bridge, located upstream of the Thames. According to a famous urban legend, in 1968 Robert McCulloch purchased an old London Bridge and later sent it to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, mistaking it for the Tower Bridge. This version was refuted by both McCulloch himself and Ivan Luckin, the seller of the bridge.
Tower Bridge (London) today
Tower Bridge (London)- still a busy and vital crossing of the Thames: more than 40,000 people (motorists and pedestrians) cross it daily. The bridge is on the London Inner ring road, on the eastern border of the London congestion zone. (Drivers do not pay toll).
To preserve the integrity of the historic structure, the City of London Corporation has imposed the following restrictions on vehicles crossing the bridge: speed up to 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) and weight less than 18 tons.
Bridge crossing speed Vehicle is measured by a complex system of security cameras, which uses a license plate recognition system to impose an appropriate fine on drivers who have exceeded the speed limit.
With the help of another system (inductive loop detector and piezoelectric sensors), parameters such as weight, chassis height above ground level and number of vehicle axles are monitored.
River navigation across the Tower Bridge (UK)
Mobile trusses are raised about 1000 times a year. Although the intensity of river navigation through Tower Bridge (UK) now greatly diminished, it still predominates over road traffic. Currently, the need to raise the bridge must be notified 24 hours in advance. In 2008, bridge controllers began using Twitter to help communicate the bridge's drawdown schedule and clearance.
In 2000 it was installed computer system for remote control breeding and bringing together movable trusses of the bridge. Unfortunately, it turned out to be less reliable than expected. Only during 2005 did the bridge get stuck in the extended or retracted position several times until its sensors were replaced.
Tower Bridge: photos and sights
The high-altitude passages between the towers, which received the notorious refuge of prostitutes and pickpockets, were closed in 1910. They were re-opened in 1982 as part of an exhibition now housed in its twin towers, skyscrapers and engine rooms. Victorian era. The crossings offer breathtaking views of the Thames and many of London's famous landmarks and serve as an observation deck for more than 380,000 tourists annually. The exhibition also features films, photographs and interactive materials explaining why and how it was built. Tower Bridge, photo which are available for viewing below. In the building at the south end of the bridge, visitors can view the steam engines that once powered the bridge's trusses.
Tower Bridge - drawbridge and suspension bridge across the Thames, located in the center of the British capital. This building is an important transport artery and a symbol of London. The neo-Gothic towers of the bridge are perfectly combined with the nearby historic Tower, which gave the crossing its name.
History and Features of Tower Bridge
The motive for the construction was the need for additional transport and pedestrian links with the eastern proletarian area of London's East End. The announced competition was won by the project of the chief architect of the capital, Horatio Jones, with the participation of the famous engineer John Wolfe Barry.
They proposed the construction of a combined bridge. Its central section, 61 m long between the two towers, was supposed to be movable for the passage of ships along the Thames, and 82-meter sections from the towers to the banks were supposed to be suspended. The chains supporting them were attached to the towers and to the shore. The centers of the movable sections of the bridge and their control mechanisms were located at the base of the towers, rigidly connected by an upper gallery at a height of 44 m. It allowed pedestrians to pass through the bridge even in a divorced state.
The implementation of the project began in 1887 and lasted 7 years. After Jones' death, construction was led by Barry, who brought in the cooperation of the architect George Stevenson. He made an extremely significant change to the original project, which largely determined the subsequent popularity of the bridge. The planned conventional brick cladding of the metal towers was replaced with elaborate Victorian Gothic cladding. Thanks to this, the bridge formed a harmonious architectural ensemble with Tower.
The underwater part of the crossing is based on two huge concrete pillars with a total mass of 70 thousand tons. The two halves of the central spreading span, weighing 1 thousand tons each, rise 86 degrees (almost vertically) for the passage of ships. The upper pedestrian gallery simultaneously compensates for the load of the suspended sections. The height of the bridge towers is 65 m, and its length is 244 m.
The original adjustable mechanism was hydraulic. Two steam engines, fired with coal. Under the influence of steam, pumps pumped Thames water into hydraulic accumulators, which transmitted energy to rotating hydraulic motors. Breeding time initially did not exceed a minute.
In 1974, water was replaced by special oil, and hydraulic motors were replaced by electric motors. Of the original components, only the gears of the span axles have been preserved. Vintage pump motors, batteries and steam boilers the former mechanism is now on display in the bridge museum. In 2005, divorce management was computerized. Three years later, the lighting system became economical LED, and the pedestrian gallery got a transparent floor.
Commissioned in 1894, the bridge quickly justified the hopes placed on it. But most pedestrians crossed it along the side paths, not going up to the upper gallery. Unfortunately, she was chosen by prostitutes, pickpockets and drug dealers. In 1910 the city authorities decided to close the gallery. It was re-opened only in 1982 as an excellent viewing platform and museum. You can get there by elevator or stairs.
In 1977, on the occasion of the anniversary of the British monarch, the original brown metal components of the bridge were painted in the colors of the British flag - blue, white and red.
There are several interesting facts connected with the Tower Bridge.
- In 1912, pilot Frank McClean, avoiding an air collision, was forced to direct his biplane between the tiers of the bridge.
- At the beginning of World War II, the bridge was one of the main targets of the German bombing of London. Fortunately, he was not hurt.
- In December 1952, the bridge traffic manager did not warn the driver of a double-decker passenger bus about the beginning of the wiring. Fortunately, he oriented himself correctly, and, having increased the speed, he still managed to move the bus to the opposite section. The driver was even awarded for resourcefulness.
- But the actions of the pilot of the Royal Air Force Alan Pollack caused a completely different reaction. Upon learning that the command was not going to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the troops, he celebrated it in his own way, flying over the bridge in a fighter. For this, he was arrested and subsequently fired.
- The next flight over the bridge was made in 1973 by clerk Paul Martin. He did this twice in a light single-engine aircraft. Unfortunately it crashed after 2 hours elsewhere.
- In 1997, during a visit to London by Bill Clinton, his cortege followed the bridge following the cars of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The latter's cortege crossed the bridge, after which he began to part for the passage of the barge along the Thames. Clinton's motorcade, to the horror of the guards, had to wait.
River transport, according to local law, takes precedence over land transport, and no exception was made even for the American president. Moreover, the barge followed exactly according to the previously submitted application, and the motorcade - with some delay. In response to a protest from the president's security service, the bridge's administration said no one at the US embassy answered their warning calls. - In 1999, a respectable citizen of the City crossed the crossing, chasing two sheep, using one of the forgotten pieces of legislation. Thus, he wanted to draw attention to other outdated laws.
- Protest actions continued into the new century. On October 31, 2003, David Creek, disguised as Spider-Man, infiltrated the bridge and spent almost a week there. All this time it had to be closed to the great discontent of the Londoners.
- In 2009, the tower's elevator collapsed along with the passengers, who, fortunately, were not seriously injured.
- Tower Bridge is sometimes confused with London Bridge, which stretches upstream the Thames. Under this name, several crossings were known, successively replacing each other. The London Bridge that preceded the current one was bought in 1967 by the American Robert McCulloch, dismantled, transported to Arizona, and reassembled. According to rumors, the businessman believed that he had acquired the Tower Bridge.
Practical information
Tower Bridge can be reached by underground, getting off at Tower Hill or London Bridge stations, or by bus number 15 or 42;
Travel and passage on the bridge (naturally, not during the wiring) is free. A ticket must be purchased to visit the observation deck and the museum. It costs 13 GBP for adults and 6 GBP for children aged 5 to 15. Opening hours - 10:00 - 18:00 in April - September and 10:00 - 17:30 in other months. Tickets can be bought at the entrance or online. The bridge opening schedule is posted at the entrances to the towers.
Tower Bridge- drawbridge over the Thames in central London. Tower Bridge is perhaps the main attraction of the British capital. The name of this symbol of the city comes from the nearby Tower of London. Tower Bridge is one of several London bridges owned by the City Bridge Trust, a charitable organization run by the City of London Corporation.
The bridge consists of two towers, connected at the upper level by two horizontal passages, opposing the horizontal forces directed from the suspended sections of the bridge to the left and right. The vertical component of forces in the suspended sections and the vertical reaction from two transitions is compensated by two stable towers. The centers of the movable trusses of the bridge and the control mechanisms are located at the base of the towers. The bridge acquired its current colors in 1977, when it was painted white, red and blue before the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations. Prior to that, it was chocolate brown.
Tower Bridge is sometimes mistakenly confused with London Bridge, located upstream of the Thames. According to a famous urban legend, in 1968 Robert McCulloch purchased the old London Bridge and later shipped it to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, mistaking it for the Tower Bridge. This version was refuted by both McCulloch himself and Ivan Luckin, the seller of the bridge.
UFO video over Thayer Bridge
Tower Bridge today
Tower Bridge is still a busy and vital crossing over the Thames, with over 40,000 people (motorists and pedestrians) crossing it daily. The bridge is located on the London Inner Ring Road, on the eastern border of the London toll zone. (Drivers do not pay to cross the bridge).
To preserve the integrity of the historic structure, the City of London Corporation has imposed the following restrictions on vehicles crossing the bridge: speed up to 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) and weight less than 18 tons. The speed of vehicles crossing the bridge is measured using a complex system of security cameras, using a license plate recognition system to impose an appropriate fine on speeding drivers.
With the help of another system (inductive loop detector and piezoelectric sensors), parameters such as weight, chassis height above ground level and number of vehicle axles are monitored.
river navigation
Mobile trusses are raised about 1000 times a year. Although the intensity of river navigation has now been greatly reduced, it still prevails over road traffic. Currently, the need to raise the bridge must be notified 24 hours in advance. In 2008, bridge controllers began using Twitter to help communicate the bridge's drawdown schedule and clearance.
In 2000, a computer system was installed to remotely control the opening and closing of the movable trusses of the bridge. Unfortunately, it turned out to be less reliable than expected. Only during 2005 did the bridge get stuck in the extended or retracted position several times until its sensors were replaced.
Tower Bridge exposition
The high-altitude passages between the towers, which received the notorious refuge of prostitutes and pickpockets, were closed in 1910. They were reopened in 1982 as part of the Tower Bridge Exposition, now housed in its Victorian-era twin towers, skywalks and engine rooms. The crossings offer breathtaking views of the Thames and many of London's famous landmarks and serve as an observation deck for more than 380,000 tourists annually. The exhibition also features films, photographs and interactive materials explaining why and how the Tower Bridge was built. In the building at the south end of the bridge, visitors can view the steam engines that once powered the bridge's trusses.
During a pre-booked indoor tour, visitors can descend into the bridge's movable truss sections and view the bridge's sailing control center for ships to pass.
Repair 2008-2012
In April 2008, it was announced that a £4 million "light facelift" of the bridge would be taking place over 4 years, removing the old paint from the bridge and repainting it blue and white. Each section will be insulated to prevent old paint from getting into the Thames. Starting from mid-2008, only one-fourth of the bridge has been carried out at a time, which has minimized disruption to traffic, although even then a road closure is unavoidable. Until the end of 2010 the bridge will be open, then it will be closed for several months. It is planned that the result of these repairs will be preserved for 25 years.
Publication date:
2015-11-21
(Eng. Tower Bridge) - a combined (partially suspended, partly movable) bridge over the Thames, built in the neo-Gothic style in 1886–1894. The bridge got its name due to its close proximity to the Tower and eventually became one of the symbols of London.
| Practical information: |
History of Tower Bridge
In the second half of the 19th century, increased economic importance the East End and, as a result, the intensification of traffic and pedestrian flows in it, raised the question of building a new transport crossing below the London Bridge along the Thames before the City of London. The traditional bridge was not suitable for such purposes, as it would have made it impossible for vessels with high masts to enter the port of London.
In 1877, a "Special Committee for Bridges and Underground Communications" was formed to deal with this problem, headed by Sir Albert J. Altman. More than 50 projects were submitted for consideration by the committee. Their study was very for a long time- only after 7 years, in 1884, was approved by the project proposed by the city architect, Sir Horatio Jones. To solve the problem of ship passage, engineer Sir John Wolfe-Barry proposed the idea of a combined bridge - the central section of the bridge between the two towers was to be movable, and the sections from the towers to the banks were to be suspended.
After eight years of construction, the bridge was inaugurated June 30, 1894 Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII) and his wife Alexandra of Denmark.
Before the construction of the bridge, the shortest route across the Thames was the Tower Underground Tunnel (located 400 meters west of the bridge). It was opened in 1870 and is one of the oldest subway lines in the world, but the movement of trains on it was stopped after 3 months. After some time, the crossing was opened to pedestrian traffic for a fee, but after the construction of the Tower Bridge, its revenues fell sharply (its use was free), and in 1898 the tunnel was closed.
In 1977, the metal structures of the bridge were painted red, blue and white colors on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II. The original color of metal structures is chocolate brown.
AT early XXI century, the reconstruction of Tower Bridge was carried out, including cleaning of old paint, repainting and installation new system lighting on towers and pedestrian galleries.
In 2012, the Tower Bridge became one of the sites on which the Olympic symbols were placed in connection with the holding in London Olympic Games. During the opening ceremony of the games famous football player David Beckham carried the Olympic flame on a sports boat under the bridge, after which a grand fireworks display was launched from the bridge.
Tower Bridge, like four other bridges across the Thames, is owned by the Bridge House Estates charitable foundation, which in turn is controlled by the City of London Corporation - municipal administration oldest area of London.
- group tour(no more than 15 people) for the first acquaintance with the city and the main attractions - 2 hours, 15 pounds
- see the historical core of London and learn about the main stages of its development - 3 hours, 30 pounds
- find out where and how the culture of tea and coffee drinking was born, and plunge into the atmosphere of those glorious times - 3 hours, 30 pounds
Bridge construction has begun in 1886 under Sir Horatio Jones. Famous engineers and architects, as well as 432 workers, were involved in the construction. First, massive concrete supports with a total weight of more than 70 thousand tons were poured at the bottom of the Thames. More than 11 thousand tons of steel were spent on the creation of the towers and passages themselves. The towers and galleries were then overlaid with Portland limestone and Cornish granite on the outside to protect the steel structures from corrosion and give the bridge a more aesthetic appearance.
Sir Jones died in 1887 and construction works headed by J. Stevenson. New leader made changes to the architectural style of the towers in order to make their appearance more “gothic” and in harmony with the view of the nearby Tower. The total cost of building the bridge was £1.184 million (£114 million at 2014 exchange rates).
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Design features
The length of the bridge is 244 meters, each of the two towers has a height of 65 meters. The central span between the towers has a length of 61 meters and consists of two adjustable wings, which, if necessary, rise up 86 degrees to allow ships to pass along the Thames. Folding wings weigh 1000 tons each; used to lift them. special system counterweights in order to minimize the effort and time required to raise the bridge. Thanks to this, the full rise of the wings is carried out in just in 1 minute.
The folding wings are driven by a hydraulic system located in the towers. Initially, the system was based on hydraulic accumulators that stored water at a pressure of 5.2 megapascals. Water was pumped into the accumulators by two steam engines with a capacity of 270 kilowatts each. In 1974, this system was replaced by an electro-hydraulic one. It uses special oil instead of water, and the engines are replaced with electric ones. Individual elements of the bridge's original hydraulic system are today part of the Tower Bridge exhibition.
The sections of the bridge between the towers and the banks of the Thames are suspension bridges 82 meters long each. The chains supporting the bridge are attached to the towers on one side and to the bridge abutments on the other.
transport value
Tower Bridge is the most important transport artery in London. More than 40,000 motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians cross it every day. In order to protect the bridge, restrictions have been imposed on the movement of vehicles: the maximum speed is limited to 32 km / h, and Weight Limit- 18 tons. Control over compliance with these restrictions is carried out by a special system that includes laser sensors (to measure the height of cars and their speed), cameras (to fix violators) and piezoelectric sensors (to determine the weight of cars by pressure on the roadway).
The bridge is raised about 1000 times a year. Today, the traffic on the Thames is significantly less intensive than a hundred years ago, but, as before, it takes precedence over road traffic. Ships must notify the bridge authorities no later than 24 hours before the expected time of passage. The passage of ships is free.
Pedestrian galleries
The design of the Tower Bridge provided for the possibility of its crossing by pedestrians even during the separation of the spans. For this, in addition to the usual pedestrian sidewalks located on both sides of the roadway, two pedestrian galleries were built between the two towers at a height of 44 meters above the river level. It was possible to get into them by stairs located inside the towers.
Almost immediately after the opening of the bridge, the pedestrian galleries between the towers acquired an unseemly reputation. The fact is that since you had to climb the stairs to the galleries to a fairly decent height, ordinary citizens tried not to go there, and soon the galleries were chosen for their meetings by pickpockets, prostitutes and other unreliable personalities. For this reason, the galleries were closed in 1910. It was not until 1982 that it was reopened as the Tower Bridge exhibition, which also includes the interior of the towers and the Victorian machine room where power plants raising the bridge. Galleries are used and how viewing platforms from which opens beautiful view to central London. Entrance to the galleries is paid.
- In May 1997, US President Bill Clinton's motorcade was cut in two while crossing the bridge, as the bridge was raised to allow the Gladys barge to pass. The cortege was a little behind the schedule, but the ship passed the bridge according to it, and since according to the rules priority is given river traffic, the bridge was raised. This incident caused outrage from the security services of the US president, to which the spokesman for the administration of the Tower Bridge said: "We tried to contact the American embassy on the phone about this, but no one answered there."
- Tower Bridge and another bridge over the Thames - London - are often confused. In 1968, the London Bridge was sold and, according to a widespread legend, its buyer, the American businessman Robert McCulloch, believed that he was actually buying Tower Bridge, one of the symbols of the capital of Foggy Albion. However, the entrepreneur himself denies this.
- The bridge, as one of the symbols of London, often appears in feature films about the life of the English capital. So, it can be seen in the films "Sherlock Holmes" (it is shown here still under construction), "Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street", "Dark Butler", "Street Dancing" and many others.
- In 1952, the bridge's opening mechanism erroneously triggered when a city bus passed the drawbridge. Driver Albert Gunter succeeded by squeezing top speed, to avoid the bus falling into the water and injuring passengers. For this, Gunther received a reward of £10 from the Corporation of the City of London (in terms of 2014 prices - £263).
- April 5, 1968 Lieutenant Royal air force Alan Pollock arbitrarily flew his Hawker Hunter fighter under the pedestrian galleries of the bridge. The reason for this act was the disappointment of the pilot in connection with the refusal of the leadership of the Royal Air Force to hold an air parade to commemorate the 50th anniversary of their creation. The pilot was arrested and fired from the Air Force.
- Some rooms in the towers and pedestrian galleries of the bridge can be rented for weddings, private or corporate events.
- A copy of the bridge towers can be seen in the city of Suzhou in China.
