LONDON The total area 610 sq miles Population

LONDON

The total area -610 sq. miles Population- 8, 000 inhabitants London the greatest and the oldest city in the world , is at least two thousand years old and was settled long before the first Roman invasion. In 55 B. C. the Romans found a Celtic village named Llyndin. In V A. D. the Saxons and the Angles named it England. In 1066 the Normans came from France. To guard themselves from invaders Londoners built a fortress on the Thames- the. Tower.

From the 11 th century the Tower has served many purposes : a fortress, a royal palace, a prison, a treasury, a mint, an arsenal, the first Royal observatory. The White Tower has a unique collection of arms, instruments for torture. The waterloo Barracs contains jewels and the Imperial State Crown.

Buckingham Palace

The Queen’s official London residence. It was built in 1703 for Duke of Buckingham. Nowadays the Palace has 600 rooms with 1000 windows, occupies 20 hectare, 17 of them for gardens. When the Queen is in the Palace the flag is seen over it.

Tourists always go to see the ceremony of changing the Guard there. The ceremony takes place every day at 11: 30 and lasts 30 minutes. Every year the Palace is visited by 30, 000 tourists.

The Houses of Parliament

Built 5 in 1042. The members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons meet in sessions which begins in October, lasts 160 days It is the seat of the British government and it is one of the most beautiful buildings in London.

Big Ben The famous clock. The Clock Tower is 97 m high, was built 1858. The clock was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, has 4 faces, the minute hand is 4. 2 m long and hour hand is 2. 7 m long. On each face one can read “Domine salvam fac Reginam nostram Victoriam Primam” in Latin.

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Five different St. Paul’s Cathedrals existed here in different times. The first one made of wood was built in 604. Modern Cathedral was built in 1708 by architect Christopher Wren. There are 3 galleries : Whispering Gallery, gold Gallery, Stone Gallery. The Cathedral has 17 bells. More than 200 famous Englishmen are buried there, it’s creator is one of them.