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LICEUL

TEOLOGIC
BAPTIST

“ALEXA
POPOVICI”
ARAD

LUCRARE DE ATESTAT LA LIMBA ENGLEZA

ELEV :BECHES PETRA

CLASA A-XII B

COORDONATOR:MAGU GEORGIANA

2017-2018

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The reason why I choose this subject is the fact that London is one of the most important and
beautiful capital of Europe.London has a remarkable history that has helped her to become
the capital of these days.

What fascinated me at this city is the fact that London is a leading global city in the arts,
commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional
services, research and development, tourism and transportation.
In terms of tourist attractions, London has among the most beautiful places to visit ,from
museums like: British Museum,Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History Museum to
entertainment places like:London Eye,Big Ben,Picaddilly Circus,Madame Tussaude.
From my experience which I had ,visiting this city ,I can say that I have learned a lots of new
thing about Lonon,I have cultured myself and I have made memories that I will never forget .

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.HISTORY.............................................................................................4

Prehistory

Roman London

Anglo-Saxon London

Middle Ages

Early modern

Late modern and contemporary

2.GEOGRAPHY.....................................................................................8

3.THE CITY OF LONDON...................................................................9

4.ADMINISTRATION............................................................................10

Local gouverment

5.EDUCATION........................................................................................12

Imperial College London

University College London

King's College London

6.CULTURE.............................................................................................14

Leisure and entertainment.

Literature, film and television.

Museums and art galleries.

Music.

7.TOURISM...............................................................................................19

The British Museum

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The Nationl Gallery

Natural History Museum

Palace of Westminster. Big Ben.

London Eye

Buckingham Palace.

Madame Tussauds

The Science Museum.

Victoria and Albert Museum

Kensington palace and gardens.

Tower Bridge

8. ARCHITECTURE.....................................................................................30

9. TOP 10 FACTS ABOUT LONDON...................................................32

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1.HISTORY

 Prehistory

Two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the
London area. In 1999, the remains of a Bronze Age bridge were found on the foreshore north
of Vauxhall Bridge. This bridge either crossed the Thames, or gave access to a now lost
island in the river. Dendrochronology dated the timbers to ca. 1500 BC. In 2010 the
foundations of a large timber structure, dated to ca. 4500 BC, were found on the Thames
foreshore, south of Vauxhall Bridge.The function of the mesolithic structure is not known.
Both structures are on the south bank, at a natural crossing point where the River Effra flows
into the River Thames.

 Roman London

In 1300, the City was still confident within the Romans wall. Although there is evidence of
scattered Brythonic settlements in the area, the first major settlement was founded by
the Romans after the invasion of 43 AD.This lasted only until around 61, when the Iceni tribe
led by Qween Boudica stormed it, burning it to the ground. The next, heavily planned,
incarnation of Londinium prospered, and it superseded Colchester as the capital of the Roman
province of Britannia in 100. At its height in the 2nd century, Roman London had a
population of around 60,000.

 Anglo-Saxon London (and Viking period)

With the collapse of Roman rule in the early 5th century, London ceased to be a capital, and
the walled city of Londinium was effectively abandoned, although Roman civilisation
continued in the St Martin-in-the-Fields area until around 450. From around 500, an Anglo-
Saxon settlement known as Lundenwic developed in the same area, slightly to the west of the
old Roman city.By about 680, it had revived sufficiently to become a major port, although
there is little evidence of large-scale production of goods. From the 820s the town declined
because of repeated Viking invasions. There are three recorded Viking assaults on London;
two of these were successful, in 851 and 886, although the Vikings were defeated during
another attack in 994.

The Vikings established Danelaw over much of the eastern and northern part of
England, with its boundary roughly stretching from London to Chester. It was an area of

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political and geographical control imposed by the Viking incursions which was formally
agreed by the Danish warlord, Guthrum and the West Saxon king Alfred the Great in 886.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded that Alfred "refounded" London in 886. Archaeological
research shows that this involved abandonment of Lundenwic and a revival of life and trade
within the old Roman walls. London then grew slowly until about 950, after which activity
increased dramatically

By the 11th century, London was beyond all comparison the largest town in
England. Westminster Abbey, rebuilt in the Romanesque style by King Edward the Confessor,
was one of the grandest churches in Europe. Winchester had previously been the capital of
Anglo-Saxon England, but from this time on, London became the main forum for foreign
traders and the base for defence in time of war. In the view of Frank Stenton: "It had the
resources, and it was rapidly developing the dignity and the political self-consciousness
appropriate to a national capital."

 Middle Ages

Westminster Abbey is a World Heritage Site and one of London’s oldest and important
building .After winning the Battle of Hastings, William, Duke of Normandy was
crowned King of England in the newly completed Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day
1066. William constructed the Tower of London, the first of the many Norman castles in
England to be rebuilt in stone, in the southeastern corner of the city, to intimidate the native

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inhabitants. In 1097, William II began the building of Westminster Hall, close by the abbey of
the same name. The hall became the basis of a new Palace of Westminster.

In the 12th century, the institutions of central government, which had hitherto accompanied
the royal English court as it moved around the country, grew in size and sophistication and
became increasingly fixed in one place. For most purposes this was Westminster, although the
royal treasury, having been moved from Winchester, came to rest in the Tower. While the City
of Westminster developed into a true capital in governmental terms, its distinct neighbour, the
City of London, remained England's largest city and principal commercial centre, and it
flourished under its own unique administration, the Corporation of London. In 1100, its
population was around 18,000; by 1300 it had grown to nearly 100,000. Disaster struck in the
form of the Black Death in the mid-14th century, when London lost nearly a third of its
population. London was the focus of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.

 Early modern

During the Tudor period the Reformation produced a gradual shift to Protestantism, and much
of London passed from church to private ownership. Woollen cloth was shipped undyed and
undressed from London to the nearby shores of the Low Countries, where it was considered
indispensable. But the reach of English maritime enterprise hardly extended beyond the seas
of north-west Europe. The commercial route to Italy and the Mediterranean Sea normally lay
through Antwerp and over the Alps; any ships passing through the Strait of Gibraltar to or
from England were likely to be Italian or Ragusan. Upon the re-opening of the Netherlands to
English shipping in January 1565, there ensued a strong outburst of commercial
activity. The Royal Exchange was founded. Mercantilism grew, and monopoly trading
companies such as the were established, with trade expanding to the New World. London
became the principal North Sea port, with migrants arriving from England and abroad. The
population rose from an estimated 50,000 in 1530 to about 225,000 in 1605.

In the 16th century William Shakespeare and his contemporaries lived in London at a time of
hostility to the development of the theatre. By the end of the Tudor period in 1603, London
was still very compact. There was an assassination attempt on James I in Westminster, in
the Gunpowder Plot on 5 November 1605.

In the English Civil War the majority of Londoners supported the Parliamentary cause. After
an initial advance by the Royalists in 1642, culminating in the battles
of Brentford and Turnham Green, London was surrounded by a defensive perimeter wall

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known as the Lines of Communication. The lines were built by up to 20,000 people, and were
completed in under two months. The fortifications failed their only test when the New Model
Army entered London in 1647, and they were levelled by Parliament the same year.

London was plagued by disease in the early 17th century, culminating in the Great Plague of
1665–1666, which killed up to 100,000 people, or a fifth of the population.

The Great Fire of London broke out in 1666 in Pudding Lane in the city and quickly swept
through the wooden buildings. Rebuilding took over ten years and was supervised by Robert
Hooke as Surveyor of London. In 1708 Christopher Wren's masterpiece, St Paul's
Cathedral was completed. During the Georgian era, new districts such as Mayfair were
formed in the west; new bridges over the Thames encouraged development in South London.
In the east, the Port of London expanded downstream. London's development as an
international financial centre matured for much of the 1700s.

In 1762, George III acquired Buckingham House and it was enlarged over the next 75 years.
During the 18th century, London was dogged by crime, and the Bow Street Runners were
established in 1750 as a professional police force. In total, more than 200 offences were
punishable by death, including petty theft. Most children born in the city died before reaching
their third birthday.

 Late modern and contemporary

London was the world's largest city from about 1831 to 1925. London's overcrowded
conditions led to cholera epidemics, claiming 14,000 lives in 1848, and 6,000 in 1866.
Rising traffic congestion led to the creation of the world's first local urban rail network.
The Metropolitan Board of Works oversaw infrastructure expansion in the capital and some of
the surrounding counties; it was abolished in 1889 when the London County Council was
created out of those areas of the counties surrounding the capital. London was bombed by the
Germans during the First World War, and during the Second World War, the Blitz and other
bombings by the German Luftwaffe killed over 30,000 Londoners, destroying large tracts of
housing and other buildings across the city. Immediately after the war, the 1948 Summer
Olympicswere held at the original Wembley Stadium, at a time when London was still
recovering from the war.

From the 1940s onwards, London became home to a large number of immigrants, primarily
from Commonwealth countries such as Jamaica, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, making

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London one of the most diverse cities worldwide. In 1951, the Festival of Britain was held on
the South Bank. The Great Smog of 1952 led to the Clean Air Act 1956, which ended the "pea
soup fogs" for which London had been notorious.

Greater London's population declined steadily in the decades after the Second World War,
from an estimated peak of 8.6 million in 1939 to around 6.8 million in the 1980s. The
principal ports for London moved downstream to Felixstowe and Tilbury] with the London
Docklands area becoming a focus for regeneration, including the Canary Wharf development.
This was borne out of London's ever-increasing role as a major international financial centre
during the 1980s. The Thames Barrier was completed in the 1980s to protect London against
tidal surges from the North Sea.

The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986, which left London without a central
administration until 2000 when London-wide government was restored, with the creation of
the Greater London Authority. To celebrate the start of the 21st century, the Millennium
Dome, London Eye and Millennium Bridge were constructed. On 6 July 2005 London was
awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics, making London the first city to stage the Olympic
Games three times. On 7 July 2005, three London Underground trains and a double-decker
bus were bombed in a series of terrorist attacks.

In 2008, London named alongside New York City and Hong Kong as Nylonkong, being
hailed as the world's three most influential global cities. In January 2015, Greater London's
population was estimated to be 8.63 million, the highest level since 1939. During the Brexit
referendum in 2016, the UK as a whole decided to leave the European Union, but a majority
of London constituencies voted to remain in the EU.

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2.GEOGRAPHY.

London is the largest urban area and capital city of the United
Kingdom, located in southeastern Great Britain. The London
region covers an area of 1,579 square kilometres (610 sq mi), and
had a population of 7,172,036 in 2001 and a population density of
4,542 people per square kilometre. A larger area, referred to as the
London Metropolitan Region or the London Metropolitan Agglomeration covers an area of
8,382 square kilometres (3,236 sq mi), and had a population of 12,653,500 and a population
density of 1,510 people per square kilometre.

London is a port on the Thames, a navigable river. The river has had a major influence on the
development of the city. London began on the Thames' north bank and for a long time the
main focus of the city remained on the north side of the Thames. For many centuries London
Bridge was the only bridge in or close to the city. When more bridges were built in the 18th
century, the city expanded in all directions as the mostly flat or gently rolling countryside
presented no obstacle to growth.

London has a temperate oceanic climate, similar to all of southern England. Despite its
reputation as being a rainy city, London receives less precipitation in a year than
Rome, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Naples, Sydney and New York City. Temperature extremes for all
sites in the London area range from 38.1 °C (100.6 °F) at Kew during August 2003 down to
−16.1 °C (3.0 °F) at Northolt during January 1962.

Summers are mild, but generally warm. London's average July high is 24 °C (74 °F). On
average London will see 31 days above 25 °C (77.0 °F) each year, and 4.2 days above 30.0 °C
(86.0 °F) every year. During the 2003 European heat wave there were 14 consecutive days
above 30 °C (86.0 °F) and 2 consecutive days where temperatures reached 38 °C (100.4 °F),
leading to hundreds of heat related deaths.

Winters are generally cool, cloudy and damp with little temperature variation. Snowfall
occurs occasionally and can cause travel disruption when this happens. Snowfall is more
common in outer London. Spring and autumn are mixed seasons and can be pleasant. As a
large city, London has a considerable urban heat island effect,making the centre of London at
times 5 °C (9 °F) warmer than the suburbs and outskirts.

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3.THE CITY OF LONDON.

London finance industry is based in the City of London and Canary Wharf, the two
major Central Business Districts in London. London is one of the pre-eminent financial
centres of the world as the most important location for international finance. London took
over as a major financial centre shortly after 1795 when the Dutch Republic collapsed before
the Napoleonic armies. For many bankers established in Amsterdam (e.g. Hope, Baring), this
was only time to move to London. The London financial elite was strengthened by a strong
Jewish community from all over Europe capable of mastering the most sophisticated financial
tools of the time. This unique concentration of talents accelerated the transition from the
Commercial Revolution to the Industrial Revolution. By the end of the 19th century, Britain
was the wealthiest of all nations, and London a leading financial centre. Still, as of 2016
London tops the world rankings on both the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) and The
Global Cities Index.

London's largest industry is finance, and its financial exports make it a large contributor to the
UK's balance of payments. Around 325,000 people were employed in financial services in
London until mid-2007. London has over 480 overseas banks, more than any other city in the
world. It is also the world's biggest currency trading centre, accounting for some 37 percent of
the $5.1 trillion average daily volume, according to the BIS. Over 85 percent (3.2 million) of
the employed population of greater London works in the services industries. Because of its
prominent global role, London's economy had been affected by the financial crisis of 2007–
2008. However, by 2010 the City has recovered; put in place new regulatory powers,
proceeded to regain lost ground and re-established London's economic dominance. Along

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with professional services headquarters, the City of London is home to the Bank of
England, London Stock Exchange, and Lloyd's of London insurance market.

Over half of the UK's top 100 listed companies (the FTSE 100) and over 100 of Europe's 500
largest companies have their headquarters in central London. Over 70 per cent of the FTSE
100 are within London's metropolitan area, and 75 per cent of Fortune 500 companies have
offices in London.

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4.ADMINISTRATION.

1.Local government

The administration of London is formed of two tiers: a citywide, strategic tier and a local tier.
Citywide administration is coordinated by the Greater London Authority (GLA), while local
administration is carried out by 33 smaller authorities. The GLA consists of two elected
components: the Mayor of London, who has executive powers, and the London Assembly,
which scrutinises the mayor's decisions and can accept or reject the mayor's budget proposals
each year. The headquarters of the GLA is City Hall, Southwark; the mayor is Sadiq Khan, the
first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital. The mayor's statutory planning strategy is
published as the London Plan, which was most recently revised in 2011. The local authorities
are the councils of the 32 London boroughs and the City of London Corporation. They are
responsible for most local services, such as local planning, schools, social services, local
roads and refuse collection. Certain functions, such as waste management, are provided
through joint arrangements. In 2009–2010 the combined revenue expenditure by London

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councils and the GLA amounted to just over £22 billion (£14.7 billion for the boroughs and
£7.4 billion for the GLA).

The London Fire Brigade is the statutory fire and rescue service for Greater London. It is run
by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and is the third largest fire service in
the world. National Health Service ambulance services are provided by the London
Ambulance Service (LAS) NHS Trust, the largest free-at-the-point-of-use emergency
ambulance service in the world. The London Air Ambulance charity operates in conjunction
with the LAS where required. Her Majesty's Coastguard and the Royal National Lifeboat
Institution operate on the River Thames, which is under the jurisdiction of the Port of London
Authority from Teddington Lock to the sea.

London is the seat of the Government of the United Kingdom. Many government
departments, as well as the Prime Minister's residence at 10 Downing Street, are based close
to the Palace of Westminster, particularly along Whitehall. The British Parliament is often
referred to as the "Mother of Parliaments" (although this sobriquet was first applied to
England itself by John Bright) because it has been the model for most other parliamentary
systems. There are 73 Members of Parliament (MPs) from London, elected from local
parliamentary constituencies in the national Parliament. As of May 2015, 49 are from
the Labour Party, 21 are Conservatives, and three are Liberal Democrat.

The UK government ministerial post of Minister for London was created in 1994 and it is
currently occupied by Jo Johnson.

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5.EDUCATION.

London is a major global centre of higher education teaching and research and has the largest
concentration of higher education institutes in Europe. According to the QS World University
Rankings 2015/16, London has the greatest concentration of top class universities in the world
and its international student population of around 110,000 is larger than any other city in the
world.

A number of world-leading education institutions are based in London. In the 2014/15 QS


World University Rankings, Imperial College London is ranked joint 2nd in the
world, University College London (UCL) is ranked 5th, and King's College London (KCL) is
ranked 16th. The London School of Economics has been described as the world's leading
social science institution for both teaching and research. The London Business School is
considered one of the world's leading business schools and in 2015 its MBA programme was
ranked second best in the world by the Financial Times.

With 120,000 students in London, the federal University of London is the largest contact
teaching university in the UK.

1.Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United


Kingdom. Its founder, Prince Albert, envisioned an area composed of the Victoria and Albert
Museum, Natural History Museum, Royal Albert Hall, and the Imperial Institute. His
wife, Queen Victoria, laid the foundation stone for the Imperial Institute in 1888. Imperial
College London was granted royal charter in 1907. In the same year, the college joined
the University of London, before leaving it a century later. Through merging with several

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historic medical schools, the curriculum expanded to include medicine. In 2004, Queen
Elizabeth II opened the Imperial College Business School.

The main campus is located in South Kensington, with an innovation campus in White City.
Imperial is organised through faculties of science, engineering, medicine, and business. The
university's emphasis is on technology and its practical application.

Imperial is consistently ranked among the top universities in the world. In 2017-18, it is
ranked 8th in both the Times Higher Education World University Rankingsand QS World
University Rankings and 27th in the Academic Ranking of World Universities. The medical
school is ranked 4th in the world by Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
Imperial was ranked by Reuters as the most innovative university in Europe. [ Staff and
alumni include 15 Nobel laureates, 3 Fields Medalists, 74 Fellows of the Royal Society,
84 Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and 85 Fellows of the Academy of Medical
Sciences.

2. University College London (UCL) is a public research university in London, England,


and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It is the third largest university
in the United Kingdom by total enrollment (and largest by postgraduate enrollment) and is
consistently placed highly in global university rankings.

Established in 1826 as London University by founders inspired by the radical ideas


of Jeremy Bentham, UCL was the first university institution to be established in London, and
the first in England to be entirely secular and to admit students regardless of their religion.
UCL also makes the contested claims of being the third-oldest university in England and the
first to admit women. In 1836 UCL became one of the two founding colleges of the
University of London, which was granted a royal charter in the same year. It has grown
through mergers, including with the Institute of Neurology (in 1997), the Royal Free
HospitalMedical School (in 1998), the Eastman Dental Institute (in 1999), the School of
Slavonic and East European Studies (in 1999), the School of Pharmacy (in 2012) and
the Institute of Education (in 2014).

3. King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located
in London, United Kingdom, and a founding constituent college of the federal University of
London. King's was established in 1829 by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington,
when it received its first royal charter (as a university college), and claims to be the fourth

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oldest university institution in England. In 1836, King's became one of the two founding
colleges of the University of London. In the late 20th century, King's grew through a series of
mergers, including with Queen Elizabeth College and Chelsea College of Science and
Technology (in 1985), the Institute of Psychiatry (in 1997), the United Medical and Dental
Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals and the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing
and Midwifery (in 1998).

6.CULTURE.

1.Leisure and entertainment.

Piccadilly Circus

Leisure is a major part of the London economy, with a 2003 report attributing a quarter of the
entire UK leisure economy to London at 25.6 events per 1000 people. Globally, the city is
amongst the big four fashion capitals of the world, and according to official statistics, London
is the world's third busiest film production centre, presents more live comedy than any other
city, and has the biggest theatre audience of any city in the world.

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Harrods in Knightsbridge

Within the City of Westminster in London, the entertainment district of the West End has its
focus around Leicester Square, where London and world film premieres are held,
and Piccadilly Circus, with its giant electronic advertisements. London's theatre district is
here, as are many cinemas, bars, clubs, and restaurants, including the city's Chinatown district
(in Soho), and just to the east is Covent Garden, an area housing speciality shops. The city is
the home of Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose musicals have dominated the West End theatre
since the late 20th century. The United Kingdom's Royal Ballet, English National
Ballet, Royal Opera, and English National Opera are based in London and perform at
the Royal Opera House, the London Coliseum, Sadler's Wells Theatre, and the Royal Albert
Hall, as well as touring the country.

Islington's 1 mile (1.6 km) long Upper Street, extending northwards from Angel, has more
bars and restaurants than any other street in the United Kingdom. Europe's busiest shopping
area is Oxford Street, a shopping street nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) long, making it the longest
shopping street in the UK. Oxford Street is home to vast numbers of retailers and department
stores, including the world-famous Selfridges flagship store. Knightsbridge, home to the
equally renowned Harrods department store, lies to the south-west.

London is home to designers Vivienne Westwood, Galliano, Stella McCartney, Manolo


Blahnik, and Jimmy Choo, among others; its renowned art and fashion schools make it an
international centre of fashion alongside Paris, Milan, and New York City. London offers a

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great variety of cuisine as a result of its ethnically diverse population. Gastronomic centres
include the Bangladeshi restaurants of Brick Lane and the Chinese restaurants of Chinatown.

There is a variety of annual events, beginning with the relatively new New Year's Day Parade,
a fireworks display at the London Eye; the world's second largest street party, the Notting Hill
Carnival, is held on the late August Bank Holiday each year. Traditional parades include
November's Lord Mayor's Show, a centuries-old event celebrating the annual appointment of
a new Lord Mayor of the City of London with a procession along the streets of the City, and
June's Trooping the Colour, a formal military pageant performed by regiments of
the Commonwealth and British armies to celebrate the Queen's Official Birthday.

2.Literature, film and television.

Sherlock Holmes Museum in Baker Street, bearing the number 221B

London has been the setting for many works of literature. The literary centres of London have
traditionally been hilly Hampsteadand (since the early 20th century) Bloomsbury. Writers

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closely associated with the city are the diarist Samuel Pepys, noted for his eyewitness account
of the Great Fire, Charles Dickens, whose representation of a foggy, snowy, grimy London of
street sweepers and pickpockets has been a major influence on people's vision of
early Victorian London, and Virginia Woolf, regarded as one of the
foremost modernist literary figures of the 20th century. The pilgrims in Geoffrey Chaucer's
late 14th-century Canterbury Tales set out for Canterbury from London – specifically, from
the Tabard inn, Southwark. William Shakespeare spent a large part of his life living and
working in London; his contemporary Ben Jonson was also based there, and some of his work
—most notably his play The Alchemist—was set in the city. A Journal of the Plague
Year (1722) by Daniel Defoe is a fictionalisation of the events of the 1665 Great Plague. Later
important depictions of London from the 19th and early 20th centuries are Dickens' novels,
and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Modern writers pervasively influenced by
the city include Peter Ackroyd, author of a "biography" of London, and Iain Sinclair, who
writes in the genre of psychogeography.

London has played a significant role in the film industry. Major studios within or bordering
London include Twickenham, Ealing, Shepperton, Pinewood, Elstree and Borehamwood, and
a special effects and post-production community centred in Soho. Working Title Films has its
headquarters in London. London has been the setting for films including Oliver
Twist (1948), Scrooge (1951), Peter Pan (1953), The 101 Dalmatians (1961), My Fair
Lady (1964), Mary Poppins (1964), Blowup (1966), The Long Good Friday (1980), Notting
Hill (1999), Love Actually (2003), V For Vendetta (2005), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber
Of Fleet Street (2008) and The King's Speech (2010). Notable actors and filmmakers from
London include; Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Caine, Helen Mirren, Gary
Oldman, Christopher Nolan, Jude Law, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy, Keira
Knightley and Daniel Day-Lewis. As of 2008, the British Academy Film Awards have taken
place at the Royal Opera House. London is a major centre for television production, with
studios including BBC Television Centre, The Fountain Studios and The London Studios.
Many television programmes have been set in London, including the popular television soap
opera EastEnders, broadcast by the BBC since 1985.

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Shakespeare's Globe is a modern reconstruction of the Globe Theatre on the south bank of
the River Thames

3.Museums and art galleries.

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London is home to many museums, galleries, and other institutions, many of which are free of
admission charges and are major tourist attractions as well as playing a research role. The first
of these to be established was the British Museum in Bloomsbury, in 1753. Originally
containing antiquities, natural history specimens, and the national library, the museum now
has 7 million artefacts from around the globe. In 1824, the National Gallery was founded to
house the British national collection of Western paintings; this now occupies a prominent
position in Trafalgar Square.

In the latter half of the 19th century the locale of South Kensington was developed as
"Albertopolis", a cultural and scientific quarter. Three major national museums are there:
the Victoria and Albert Museum (for the applied arts), the Natural History Museum, and
the Science Museum. The National Portrait Gallery was founded in 1856 to house depictions
of figures from British history; its holdings now comprise the world's most extensive
collection of portraits.[347] The national gallery of British art is at Tate Britain, originally
established as an annexe of the National Gallery in 1897. The Tate Gallery, as it was formerly
known, also became a major centre for modern art; in 2000, this collection moved to Tate
Modern, a new gallery housed in the former Bankside Power Station.

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4.Music.

London is one of the major classical and popular music capitals of the world and is home to
major music corporations, such as Warner Music Group, as well as countless bands,
musicians and industry professionals. The city is also home to many orchestras and concert
halls, such as the Barbican Arts Centre (principal base of the London Symphony
Orchestra and the London Symphony Chorus), Cadogan Hall (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)
and the Royal Albert Hall (The Proms). London's two main opera houses are the Royal Opera
House and the London Coliseum. The UK's largest pipe organ is at the Royal Albert Hall.
Other significant instruments are at the cathedrals and major churches.
Several conservatoires are within the city: Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of
Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Trinity Laban.

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London has numerous venues for rock and pop concerts, including the world's busiest
arena the O2 arena and other large arenas such as Earls Court, Wembley Arena, as well as
many mid-sized venues, such as Brixton Academy, the Hammersmith Apollo and
the Shepherd's Bush Empire. Several music festivals, including the Wireless Festival, South
West Four, Lovebox, and Hyde Park's British Summer Time are all held in London. The city
is home to the original Hard Rock Cafe and the Abbey Road Studios, where The
Beatles recorded many of their hits. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, musicians and groups
like Elton John, Pink Floyd, Cliff Richard, David Bowie, Queen, The Kinks, The Rolling
Stones, The Who, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, The Small Faces, Iron Maiden, Fleetwood
Mac, Elvis Costello, Cat Stevens, The Police, The Cure, Madness, The
Jam, Ultravox, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, Dusty Springfield, Phil Collins, Rod
Stewart, Adam Ant, Status Quo and Sade, derived their sound from the streets and rhythms of
London.

London was instrumental in the development of punk music, with figures such as the, The
Clash, and Vivienne Westwood all based in the city. More recent artists to emerge from the
London music scene include George Michael's Wham!, Kate Bush, Seal, the Pet Shop
Boys, Bananarama, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bush, the Spice
Girls, Jamiroquai, Blur, McFly, The Prodigy, Gorillaz, Bloc Party, Mumford &
Sons, Coldplay, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, Paloma Faith, Ellie
Goulding, One Direction and Florence and the Machine. London is also a centre for urban
music. In particular the genres UK garage, drum and bass, dubstep and grime evolved in the
city from the foreign genres of hip hop and reggae, alongside local drum and bass. Music
station BBC Radio 1Xtra was set up to support the rise of local urban contemporary music
both in London and in the rest of the United Kingdom.

7. TOURISM.

London is one of the leading tourist destinations in the world and in 2015 was ranked as the
most visited city in the world with over 65 million visits. It is also the top city in the world by
visitor cross-border spending, estimated at US$20.23 billion in 2015. Tourism is one of
London's prime industries, employing the equivalent of 350,000 full-time workers in
2003, and the city accounts for 54% of all inbound visitor spending in the UK. As of
2016 London is the world top city destination as ranked by TripAdvisor users.

The top 11 most visited attractions:

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1.The British Museum:

The British Museum, located in the Bloomsbury area of London, United Kingdom, is a
public institution dedicated to human history, art and culture. Its permanent collection,
numbering some 8 million works, is among the largest and most comprehensive in
existence and originates from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human
culture from its beginnings to the present.

The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician
and scientist Sir Hans Sloane.The museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759,
in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. Its expansion over the following two
and a half centuries was largely a result of expanding British colonization and has resulted in
the creation of several branch institutions, the first being the British Museum of Natural
History in South Kensington in 1881 (it is nowadays simply called the Natural History
Museum, and is separate and independent). In 1973, the British Library Act 1972 detached the
library department from the British Museum, but it continued to host the now
separated British Library in the same Reading Room and building as the museum until 1997.
The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital,
Culture, Media and Sport, and as with all other national museums in the United Kingdom it
charges no admission fee, except for loan exhibitions.

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2.The National Gallery.

The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster,
in Central London. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating
from the mid-13th century to 1900.

The Gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for
Culture, Media and Sport.[4] Its collection belongs to the government on behalf of the British
public, and entry to the main collection is free of charge. It is among the most visited art
museums in the world, after the Louvre, the British Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum
of Art.

Unlike comparable museums in continental Europe, the National Gallery was not formed by
nationalising an existing royal or princely art collection. It came into being when the British
government bought 38 paintings from the heirs of John Julius Angerstein, an insurance
broker and patron of the arts, in 1824. After that initial purchase the Gallery was shaped
mainly by its early directors, notably Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, and by private donations,
which comprise two-thirds of the collection.

The resulting collection is small in size, compared with many European national galleries, but
encyclopaedic in scope; most major developments in Western painting
"from Giotto to Cézanne"are represented with important works. It used to be claimed that this

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was one of the few national galleries that had all its works on permanent exhibition, but this is
no longer the case.

The present building, the third to house the National Gallery, was designed by William
Wilkins from 1832 to 1838. Only the façade onto Trafalgar Square remains essentially
unchanged from this time, as the building has been expanded piecemeal throughout its history.
Wilkins's building was often criticised for the perceived weaknesses of its design and for its
lack of space; the latter problem led to the establishment of the Tate Gallery for British art in
1897.

The Sainsbury Wing, an extension to the west by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, is a
notable example of Postmodernist architecture in Britain. The current Director of the National
Gallery is Gabriele Finaldi.

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3.Natural History Museum.

The Natural History Museum in London is a natural history museum that exhibits a vast
range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three
major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science
Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Natural History Museum's main frontage,
however, is on Cromwell Road.

The museum is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 80 million items
within five main collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology and zoology. The
museum is a centre of research specialising in taxonomy, identification and conservation.
Given the age of the institution, many of the collections have great historical as well as
scientific value, such as specimens collected by Charles Darwin. The museum is particularly
famous for its exhibition of dinosaur skeletons and ornate architecture—sometimes dubbed
a cathedral of nature—both exemplified by the large Diplodocus cast that dominated the
vaulted central hall before it was replaced in 2017 with the skeleton of a blue whale hanging
from the ceiling. The Natural History Museum Library contains extensive books, journals,
manuscripts, and artwork collections linked to the work and research of the scientific
departments; access to the library is by appointment only. The museum is recognised as the
pre-eminent centre of natural history and research of related fields in the world.

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Although commonly referred to as the Natural History Museum, it was officially known
as British Museum (Natural History) until 1992, despite legal separation from the British
Museum itself in 1963. Originating from collections within the British Museum, the
landmark Alfred Waterhouse building was built and opened by 1881 and later incorporated
the Geological Museum. The Darwin Centre is a more recent addition, partly designed as a
modern facility for storing the valuable collections.

Like other publicly funded national museums in the United Kingdom, the Natural History
Museum does not charge an admission fee. The museum is an exempt charity and a non-
departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and
Sport. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is a patron of the museum. There are approximately
850 staff at the Museum. The two largest strategic groups are the Public Engagement Group
and Science Group.

4.Palace of Westminster

Big Ben.

The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the House of Commons and the House of
Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Commonly known as
the Houses of Parliament after its occupants, the Palace lies on the north bank of the River
Thames in the City of Westminster, in central London.

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Its name, which is derived from the neighbouring Westminster Abbey, may refer to either of
two structures: the Old Palace, a medieval building complex destroyed by fire in 1834, and its
replacement, the New Palace that stands today. The palace is owned by the monarch in right
of the Crown and for ceremonial purposes, retains its original status as a royal residence. The
building is managed by committees appointed by both houses, which report to the Speaker of
the House of Commons and the Lord Speaker.

The first royal palace was built on the site in the 11th century, and Westminster was the
primary residence of the Kings of England until fire destroyed much of the complex in 1512.
After that, it served as the home of the Parliament of England, which had been meeting there
since the 13th century, and also as the seat of the Royal Courts of Justice, based in and
around Westminster Hall. In 1834, an even greater fire ravaged the heavily rebuilt Houses of
Parliament, and the only significant medieval structures to survive were Westminster Hall, the
Cloisters of St Stephen's, the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, and the Jewel Tower.

The subsequent competition for the reconstruction of the Palace was won by the
architect Charles Barry, whose design was for new buildings in the Gothic Revival style,
specifically inspired by the English Perpendicular Gothic style of the 14th–16th centuries. The
remains of the Old Palace (except the detached Jewel Tower) were incorporated into its much
larger replacement, which contains over 1,100 rooms organised symmetrically around two
series of courtyards and has a floor area of 112,476 m2 (1,210,680 sq ft). Part of the New
Palace's area of 3.24 hectares (8 acres) was reclaimed from the Thames, which is the setting
of its nearly 300-metre long (980 ft) façade, called the River Front. Barry was assisted
by Augustus Pugin, a leading authority on Gothic architecture and style, who designed the
interior of the Palace. Construction started in 1840 and lasted for 30 years, suffering great
delays and cost overruns, as well as the death of both leading architects; works for the interior
decoration continued intermittently well into the 20th century. Major conservation work has
been carried out since then to reverse the effects of London's air pollution, and extensive
repairs took place after the Second World War, including the reconstruction of the Commons
Chamber following its bombing in 1941.

The Palace is one of the centres of political life in the United Kingdom; "Westminster" has
become a metonym for the UK Parliament, and the Westminster system of government has
taken its name after it. The Elizabeth Tower, in particular, which is often referred to by the
name of its main bell, Big Ben, is an iconic landmark of London and the United Kingdom in
general, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city, and an emblem of

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parliamentary democracy. The Palace of Westminster has been a Grade I listed building since
1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

5.London Eye.

The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London.

The structure is 443 feet (135 m) tall and the wheel has a diameter of 394 feet (120 m). When
it opened to the public in 2000 it was the world's tallest Ferris wheel. Its height was surpassed
by the 525-foot (160 m) Star of Nanchang in 2006, the 541-foot (165 m) Singapore Flyer in
2008, and the 550-foot (167.6 m) High Roller(Las Vegas) in 2014. Supported by an A-
frame on one side only, unlike the taller Nanchang and Singapore wheels, the Eye is described
by its operators as "the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel".

It is Europe's tallest Ferris wheel, and offered the highest public viewing point in London until
it was superseded by the 804-foot (245 m) high observation deck on the 72nd floor of The
Shard, which opened to the public on 1 February 2013. It is the most popular paid tourist
attraction in the United Kingdom with over 3.75 million visitors annually, and has made
many appearances in popular culture.

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The London Eye adjoins the western end of Jubilee Gardens (previously the site of the
former Dome of Discovery), on the South Bank of the River Thames between Westminster
Bridge and Hungerford Bridge beside County Hall, in the London Borough of Lambeth.

6. Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace is the London residence and administrative headquarters of the


reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is
often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It has been a focal point for
the British people at times of national rejoicing and mourning.

Originally known as Buckingham House, the building at the core of today's palace was a
large townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703 on a site that had been in private
ownership for at least 150 years. It was acquired by King George III in 1761 as a private
residence for Queen Charlotte and became known as The Queen's House. During the
19th century it was enlarged, principally by architects John Nash and Edward Blore, who
constructed three wings around a central courtyard. Buckingham Palace became the London
residence of the British monarch on the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837.

The last major structural additions were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
including the East front, which contains the well-known balcony on which the royal family
traditionally congregates to greet crowds. The palace chapel was destroyed by a German
bomb during World War II; the Queen's Gallery was built on the site and opened to the public
in 1962 to exhibit works of art from the Royal Collection.

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The original early 19th-century interior designs, many of which survive, include widespread
use of brightly coloured scagliola and blue and pink lapis, on the advice of Sir Charles
Long. King Edward VII oversaw a partial redecoration in a Belle Époque cream and gold
colour scheme. Many smaller reception rooms are furnished in the Chinese regency style with
furniture and fittings brought from the Royal Pavilion at Brighton and from Carlton House.
The palace has 775 rooms, and the garden is the largest private garden in London. The state
rooms, used for official and state entertaining, are open to the public each year for most of
August and September and on some days in winter and spring.

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7.Madame Tussauds

Madame Tussauds the family themselves pronounce it is a wax museum in London with
smaller museums in a number of other major cities. It was founded by wax sculptor Marie
Tussaud. It used to be known as "Madame Tussaud's"; the apostrophe is no longer
used. Madame Tussauds is a major tourist attraction in London, displaying the waxworks of
famous and historic people and also popular film characters. The first Madame Tussauds in
India opened in Delhi in December 2017 with its operator Merlin Entertainments foraying
into India with an investment plan of 50 million pounds over the next 10 years.

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8. The Science Museum.

The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London.
It was founded in 1857 and today is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3
million visitors annually.

Like other publicly funded national museums in the United Kingdom, the Science Museum
does not charge visitors for admission. Temporary exhibitions, however, may incur an

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admission fee. It is part of the Science Museum Group, having merged with the Museum of
Science and Industry in Manchester in 2012.

The Science Museum now holds a collection of over 300,000 items, including such famous
items as Stephenson's Rocket, Puffing Billy (the oldest surviving steam locomotive), the
first jet engine, a reconstruction of Francis Crick and James Watson's model of DNA, some of
the earliest remaining steam engines (Including an example of a Newcomen steam engine, the
worlds first steam engine), a working example of Charles Babbage's Difference engine, the
first prototype of the 10,000-year Clock of the Long Now, and documentation of the
first typewriter. It also contains hundreds of interactive exhibits. A recent addition is
the IMAX 3D Cinema showing science and nature documentaries, most of them in 3-D, and
the Wellcome Wing which focuses on digital technology.Entrance has been free since 1
December 2001.

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9. Victoria and Albert Museum.

The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's
largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over
4.5 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

The V&A is located in the Brompton district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and
Chelsea, in an area that has become known as "Albertopolis" because of its association with
Prince Albert, the Albert Memorial and the major cultural institutions with which he was
associated. These include the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Royal
Albert Hall. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for
Culture, Media and Sport. Like other national British museums, entrance to the museum has
been free since 2001.

The V&A covers 12.5 acres (5.1 ha) and 145 galleries. Its collection spans 5,000 years of art,
from ancient times to the present day, from the cultures of Europe, North
America, Asia and North Africa. The holdings of ceramics, glass, textiles, costumes,
silver, ironwork, jewellery, furniture, medieval objects, sculpture, printsand printmaking,
drawings and photographs are among the largest and most comprehensive in the world.

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The museum owns the world's largest collection of post-classical sculpture, with the holdings
of Italian Renaissance items being the largest outside Italy. The departments of Asia include
art from South Asia, China, Japan, Korea and the Islamic world. The East Asian collections
are among the best in Europe, with particular strengths in ceramics and metalwork, while the
Islamic collection is amongst the largest in the Western world. Overall, it is one of
the largest museums in the world.

Since 2001, the museum has embarked on a major £150m renovation programme, which has
seen a major overhaul of the departments, including the introduction of newer galleries,
gardens, shops and visitor facilities.

New 17th- and 18th-century European galleries were opened on 9 December 2015. These
restored the original Aston Webb interiors and host the European collections 1600–1815.

10. Kensington palace and gardens.

Kensington Palace Gardens is a street in Kensington, west central London, home to some of
the most expensive properties in the world. It was the location of the London Cage, the British
government MI19centre used during the Second World War and the Cold War.

A tree-lined avenue half a mile long in the heart of embassy land, Kensington Palace Gardens
is often cited as the "most exclusive address" in London, according to real estate
agency Knight Frank. It is one of the most expensive residential streets in the world, and has
long been known as "Billionaires Row", due to the extreme wealth of its private residents,

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although in fact the majority of its current occupants are either national embassies or
ambassadorial residences. As of mid-2012, current market prices for a property in the street
average over £22 million.

It is immediately to the west of Kensington Gardens and connects Notting Hill


Gate with Kensington High Street. The southern section of Kensington Palace Gardens is
called Palace Green.

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11.Tower Bridge.

Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London built between 1886
and 1894. The bridge crosses the River Thames close to the Tower of London and has become
an iconic symbol of London, resulting in it sometimes being confused with London Bridge,
situated some 0.5 mi (0.80 km) upstream. Tower Bridge is one of five London bridges now
owned and maintained by the Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust overseen by the City of
London Corporation. It is the only one of the Trust's bridges not to connect the City of
London directly to the Southwark bank, as its northern landfall is in Tower Hamlets.

The bridge consists of two bridge towers tied together at the upper level by two horizontal
walkways, designed to withstand the horizontal tension forces exerted by the suspended
sections of the bridge on the landward sides of the towers. The vertical components of the
forces in the suspended sections and the vertical reactions of the two walkways are carried by
the two robust towers. The bascule pivots and operating machinery are housed in the base of
each tower. Before its restoration in the 2010s, the bridge's colour scheme dated from 1977,
when it was painted red, white and blue for Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. Its colours
were subsequently restored to blue and white.

The bridge deck is freely accessible to both vehicles and pedestrians, whereas the bridge's
twin towers, high-level walkways and Victorian engine rooms form part of the Tower Bridge

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Exhibition, for which an admission charge is made. The nearest London Underground tube
stations are Tower Hill on the Circleand District lines, London Bridge on
the Jubilee and Northern lines and Bermondsey on the Jubilee line, and the nearest Docklands
Light Railway station is Tower Gateway. The nearest National Rail stations are at Fenchurch
Street and London Bridge.

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8.ARCHITECTURE.

London's buildings are too diverse to be characterised by any particular architectural style,
partly because of their varying ages. Many grand houses and public buildings, such as
the National Gallery, are constructed from Portland stone. Some areas of the city, particularly
those just west of the centre, are characterised by white stucco or whitewashed buildings. Few
structures in central London pre-date the Great Fire of 1666, these being a few
trace Roman remains, the Tower of London and a few scattered Tudor survivors in the City.
Further out is, for example, the Tudor-period Hampton Court Palace, England's oldest
surviving Tudor palace, built by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey c.1515.

Wren's late 17th-century churches and the financial institutions of the 18th and 19th centuries
such as the Royal Exchange and the Bank of England, to the early 20th century Old
Bailey and the 1960s Barbican Estate form part of the varied architectural heritage.

Trafalgar Square and its fountains, with Nelson's Column on the right

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The disused – but soon to be rejuvenated – 1939 Battersea Power Station by the river in the
south-west is a local landmark, while some railway termini are excellent examples
of Victorian architecture, most notably St. Pancras and Paddington.[192] The density of London
varies, with high employment density in the central area, high residential densities in inner
London, and lower densities in Outer London.

The Monument in the City of London provides views of the surrounding area while
commemorating the Great Fire of London, which originated nearby. Marble
Arch and Wellington Arch, at the north and south ends of Park Lane, respectively, have royal
connections, as do the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall in Kensington. Nelson's
Column is a nationally recognised monument in Trafalgar Square, one of the focal points of
central London. Older buildings are mainly brick built, most commonly the yellow London
stock brick or a warm orange-red variety, often decorated with carvings and white
plaster mouldings.

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In the dense areas, most of the concentration is via medium- and high-rise buildings. London's
skyscrapers, such as 30 St Mary Axe, Tower 42, the Broadgate Tower and One Canada
Square, are mostly in the two financial districts, the City of London and Canary Wharf. High-
rise development is restricted at certain sites if it would obstruct protected views of St Paul's
Cathedral and other historic buildings. Nevertheless, there are a number of very tall
skyscrapers in central London (see Tall buildings in London), including the 95-storey Shard
London Bridge, the tallest building in the European Union.

Other notable modern buildings include City Hall in Southwark with its distinctive oval
shape and the British Library in Somers Town/Kings Cross. What was formerly
the Millennium Dome, by the Thames to the east of Canary Wharf, is now an entertainment
venue called the O2 Arena.

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9.TOP 10 FACTS ABOUT LONDON.

1. The first hot chocolate store was opened in London

2. -The London Eye is the highest observation point in the world, and each
rotation takes around 30 minutes.

3. The code "007" of the James Bond's was inspired by Ian Fleming from the bus
which makes the connection between the Canterbury and London.

4. London is the house of 4 World Heritage Sites - the Palace of Westminster, the
Tower of London, Sea Greenwich Mean Time and the Botanical Garden Kew.

5. 25% of the population of the current state of the London is born in another
corner of the world.

6. The subway in London is one of the oldest in the world.

7. In London are more American banks than in Manhattan and New York to a
place.

8. - The length of the 409 escalators in London subway covers in a week 7 times
the distance necessary for a round the world trip.

9. If London would be a country, it would place 8 class on the largest in Europe.

10. London had several names in the past: Londonium (during the romans
invasion), Ludenwic (during the saxon’s time) , Ludenburg (during the reign of
Alfred the Great).

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