Big Ben in Britain

I would like to introduce about Big Ben in Britain. Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock and there is in the Palace of Westminster in London. The Palace of Westminster is registered in World Heritage and it uses as the Houses of Parliament now.

A clock tower was built at Westminster in 1288. But the Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire on October 22, 1834. In the reconstruction of the Palace, the Neo gothic style which Charles Barry had designed was adopted. As for the clock tower, Augustus Pugin’s design was adopted and the dial of the clock also was designed by him. Under each the dial of the clock is carved in Latin, ‘DOMINE SALVAM FAC REGINAM NOSTRAM VICTORIAM PRIMAM’. It means O Lord, keep safe our Victoria the First in English. The height of the clock tower is 96.3 meters and 61 meters of the lower part are made from brick. The height of the remainder consists of the spire of the cast iron. And the clock tower was completed on May 31, 1859.

Big Ben is played at noon every day. The melody of the bell of Big Ben is similar to the melody of chime of school in Japan. A formal name of a song is called the bell of Westminster.

Now Big Ben has become a symbol of the UK and London. It was congratulated as the 150th anniversary on May 31, 2009. When night comes, Big Ben is illuminated.