London – maturitná otázka

London

• 1 600 sq km, 12 000 000 inhahitants (with suburbs)
• capital of the United Kingdom
• lies on the river Thames
• it includes the city of London and 32 boroughs
• seat of Monarchy, the Parliament, the Goverment and the Supreme Court
• Central London = The City of London - the oldest part of London, now the financial centrum
• The East End - many new imigrant groups live and many working people
• The West End – there are chic ships, theatres, beautiful residential areas, great parks, …

History

• 800 B. C. there was a Celtic settlement
• the place had been occupied by Romans about 55 B. C.
• about 43 A. D. Romans estabilished city Londonium
• in fifth century Romans left the island, but the city remained
• during the 12^th century reing of Norman kings (William the Conqueror was the first to come in 1066) the royal court moved from Winchester, the former capital, to London for ever
• city continued to grow and soon absorb the originally separate Westminister
• in 1665 more than 75 000 people died from a plague epidemic
• in 1666 the Great Fire of London destroyed four fifths of the city
• in the latter half of the 17^th century Sir Christopher Wren designed and constructed about 50 churches and some other public buildings
• German bombarding during World War II caused serious damage
• since 1982 the most risky and criticized project in recent times has been the rescue and new development of the Docklands east of the City

Places of Interest

• The Houses of Parliament - the original Palace of Wesminister was a home for the royal family until the 16^th

century, but there was a terrible fire in 1834 and most of the original palace was burnt

- it was rebuilt between 1840 and 1860 in Gothic style

- became the seat of Parliament in 1547

- The House of Lords and The House of Commons

- Big Ben - clock tower; it isn‘t really the name of clock, but the name of the bell

- the strikes of Big Ben is known world-wide because it is used by the BBC as a time signal

• Westminster Abbey - was a Norman church of the Benedictine monks in Westminster

- the present building in the Gothic style was started in 1245 by King Henry III

- nearly all the Englis kings and queens since William I (1027 – 1087) were crowned in

Westminster Abbey. In 1953, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned there.

• Buckingham Palace - was built in 1703 by the Duke of Buckingham

- King George III bough the palace in 1761

- it is now the official home of Queen Elizabeth II and the British Royal Family

- there are nearly six hundred rooms in the palace

• Tower of London - William the Conqueror began to build the massive fortress – the White Tower

- the inner wall, with its thirteen towers, was built in 13^th century

- outer walls was added by Edward I

- the Tower served till the 16^th century as a royal home, a prison, an execution site, a royal mint

and an observatory

- now there is a museum of armour and weapons and instruments of torture and execution

- you can see the Crown Jewels in the Jewel House

- the Tower is guarded by the Yeomen Warders (incorrectly called Beefeaters) who still wear the

uniform of the Tuodor times

- six ravens are kept in the Tower to protect the whole Kingdom. The legend says that the

Kingdom will die when the ravens leave the Tower

• Tower Bridge - most famous bridge in London which is raised in the middle to allow ships to pass up the river
• St. Paul‘s Cathedral - was built by Sir Christopher Wren in 1711 in Baroque style

- it stands on the site of the previous cathedral which was damaged by the Great Fire in 1666

- it is the second largest church in the world after St. Peter‘s in Rome

• Trafalgar Square - largest square in London

- its name commemorate the naval victory of Admiral Lord Nelson over the French and

Spanish fleet at Spanish Cape Trafalgar in 1805

- in the middle of the square is Nelson‘s Column (about 50 m high) with statue of Horatio

Nelson at the top 

• Piccadily Circus - the centre of the city‘s nightlife

- in the centre of the Circus at the top of the Fountain stands Eros, the Greek God of love

• The Nacional Theatre - the compex consists of three theatres, completed in 1976
• National Gallery - it houses one of the greatest collections of paintings from the 13^th to the 20^th centuries

(Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Manet, Monet, El Greco, …)

• British Museum - antiquities from Egypt, South and South-East Asia, China, Greece, Rome and the East

- notable exhibits include the Magna Charta which limited the king;s powers in 1215, William

Shakespeare‘s folio published in 1623, the Partenon sculptures, Egyptian mummies, a Gutenberg

Bible, Anglo-Saxon treasure, authhors‘ original manuscripts (Charles Dickens, John Lennon, …)

• London Dungeon – it is the world‘s first medieval horror museum
• Sherlock Holmes Museum – at 221b, Baker Street where Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Waston resided
• Madame Tussaud‘s - exhibition cotains wax life-size models of famous people from history and today
• Hyde Park - the largest park in London

- in the centre is a lake called The Serpentine

- it has also an area called Speakers Corner – here anyone can stand on a box and speak about

anything they want, including politics and religion

• Regent‘s Park - London‘s most elegant park with gardens, lakes and a zoo