Fig. 1: Big Ben: The most famous Clock Tower in the world.

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Fig. 2: What is Big Ben?

In central London, in an area called Westminster, tourists can see the Great Clock

of the Palace of Westminster. ‘’Big Ben’’ is the name of the hour bell of this clock.

Today, this name refers not only to the bell, but also to the great clock and the whole

clock Tower.

Victoria

Tower

Big Ben –

Clock Tower

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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.

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.

Edmund Beckett

Denison

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Fig. 5: - 1849: Edmund Beckett Denison was the person who designed the Great Bell,

the four smaller bells and the clock.

-Edward John Dent started the construction of the clock and when he died, his son

Frederick Dent completed and installed it. There is an inscription on the frame of the

Clock which bears his name.

Edward John Dent

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Fig. 6: For 15 years, that is, from 1843 to 1858 the Clock Tower is being built. The lack of

external scaffolding shows that it was built from the inside. A roof to protect the works can

be seen above the Tower.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------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.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------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.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Fig. 9: - The new bell cost £572 and it is still in use. It is 13.5 tons heavy and it is 2.28 m

tall and 2.75 m wide. It is grey with some green spots. It has also the name ‘’Big Ben’’.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Fig. 10: - In addition, four smaller bells, the quarter bells were made, installed and began to

sound.

-At first, the hour hand and the minute hand of the clock were too heavy, that is why new

ones had to be made.

- Now the hour hand is 2.7 m long and the minute hand is 4.25 m long and weighs about

100 kilos.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------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.

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Fig.12: - The mechanism of the clock that was manual in the past, is electric nowadays.

-Accurate timekeeping has always been of great importance.

- The Great Clock automatically reported its time to Greenwich Observatory twice a day.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Fig. 13: - On 10th April 1858 the Clock Tower was completed.

-The Tower has 334 steps. There is no lift.

- British people can go up the stairs of the Tower on condition that they get a special

admission permit.

- Foreigners are not allowed to go up the Tower.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------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.

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Fig. 16: Is Big Ben leaning?

-It is visible to the naked eye that the Clock Tower has a slight inclination of 250 mm due to

digging for the Jubilee metro line in 2003.

- Big Ben has always been the most famous monument in the United Kingdom. If you ever

travel to London, do not forget to see it and take some photos!

Για τη δημιουργία της εργασίας αυτής συμμετείχαν οι μαθητές:

1.Αρουτουνιάν Μαρία (Α1)

2.Βρατσάνος Γιάννης (Α1)

3.Κάβουρα Αναστασία (Α1)

4.Κόκκοτου Δήμητρα (Α2)

5.Μαριόλη Αντωνία (Α2)

6.Καραμπίνη Μαρία (Α2)

7.Μπαρλογιάννη Μάρθα (Α3)

8.Παναγιωτοπούλου Ηλέκτρα (Α3)

9.Πρατικάκης Νικόλαος (Α4)

10.Τρανός Σωτήρης (Α5)

11.ΣταυρακάκηςΑντώνιος (Α5)

12.Τσολάκης Λάζαρος (Α6)

13.Χατζηγιάννης Οδυσσέας (Α6)

Ευχαριστούμε πολύ τους καθηγητές πληροφορικής:

1.Αναστασίου Άρη

2.Γεωργοπούλου Σπυριδούλα και την

3.Λοΐζου Αγγελική – καθηγήτρια Αγγλικών

για τη βοήθειά τους

Εικόνες από: Big Ben – Chris McKay – Εκδόσεις Oxford

ΥΠΕΥΘΥΝΗ ΚΑΘΗΓΗΤΡΙΑ: ΚΑΝΝΑΥΠΑΤΙΑ (ΠΕ6)

ΜΑΙΟΣ 2014