3. Victoria
Tower
Big Ben –
Clock Tower
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fig. 3: A brief history:
-1834: The old Palace of Westminster, which was the meeting place of the Parliament
of the United Kingdom, was destroyed by a large fire.
-1844: The architect Charles Barry designed a new Palace and two towers: the Victoria
Tower (102 m tall) and the Clock Tower (96.3 m tall) parallel to the river Thames.
4. Augustus
Welby Pugin
Charles Barry A tile designed
by Pugin
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fig. 4: The main architect Barry worked together with Augustus Welby Pugin, who was
excellent at designing structures using the New – Gothic style of architecture with very
tall narrow windows.
It was Pugin who undertook the detailed design of the Clock Tower, the dials of the clock
and the decoration around them.
7. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fig. 7: - 1856: John Warner’s Company constructed a large bell that weighed 16 tons. The
name ‘’Big Ben’’ was initially given to this bell in honour of Sir Benjamin Hall, the First
Commissioner of Works.
- Sixteen horses pulled the Great Bell on a carriage along Westminster Bridge. Crowds of
people came excitedly to see the bell. A team of men needed 36 hours to raise the bell on a
scaffold. The bell started ringing.
8. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fig. 8: - 1857: The Great Bell ‘’Big Ben’’ cracked irreparably because a very heavy hammer
hit it. After that, George Mears who had the Whitechapel Bell Foundry made a new bell
using the material of the old one.
- Like the first bell, the new Big Ben was given a great welcome when it arrived at
Westminster. To raise Big Ben safely, a timber cage was constructed that held the bell on its
side.
11. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fig. 11: - The four dials of the clock consist of 312 small pieces of glass that comes from
valuable stone.
The dials are cleaned every 5 years. The numbers are 60cm long.
- At the bottom of each clock face there are gold letters in Latin: DOMINE SALVAM FAC
REGINAM NOSTRAM VICTORIAM PRIMAM which means: Lord, keep safe our
Queen Victoria the first.
14. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fig. 14: - 1906: From the beginning, gas lighting was used to illuminate the dials.
-In 1906 a new electric lighting system was used.
- During the World Wars the lighting on Big Ben’s dials was turned off so as not to give clues
to enemy airplanes where to drop their bombs. Big Ben survived a heavy German bombing
and started to symbolise Britain’s resistance to Germans.
- Today, the dial lighting is turned on at dusk and off at dawn. The Tower appears to be very
impressive.
15. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fig. 15: - Since 1923 Big Ben has welcomed the New Year. The BBC installed microphones
to broadcast the sound.
-In 1976 the clock had a breakdown, but it was soon repaired and in 1977 the restored clock
restarted sounding.
- In 1999 Big Ben’s sound welcomed the Millenium. Cameras had been installed and, as a
result, TV viewers could both see and hear the sound.
- In 2009 Big Ben celebrated the 150th anniversary of service with a wide variety of
festivities.
- In 2012 the name Elizabeth Tower was officially given to the Clock Tower.
- In 2013 Big Ben stopped during Margaret Thatcher’s funeral to show respect to the former
Prime Minister of the UK.