Virtual trip to Big Ben. What does it look like inside (45 photos + 2 videos)

Today, 02:07

There is probably no person who has not seen Big Ben. Posters, tea packages, postcards, stamps – images of the English landmark can be found everywhere. But few people know what Big Ben looks like inside.

Big Ben is not a separate building, but part of a vast architectural complex called the Palace of Westminster. This enormous structure is located on the banks of the River Thames.

The building can be entered through several entrances. We will choose the entrance of St. Stephen. We see a huge door in the neo-Gothic style in front of us. We go inside.

We won't go into detail about the interior of the palace, as it would take more than one article to cover them. Just head to the northern end of the building.

Before you continue your journey, take a look at this map. Keep an eye on it from time to time so you don't get lost. All important objects are marked with numbers, like this - (1).

So, we got to the northern end of the Palace of Westminster. We see an inconspicuous door (1), on which is written Elizabeth Tower.

We pull the handle towards ourselves. That's it, we are inside the Big Ben tower!

All we see in front of us are white plastered walls and a stone spiral staircase (2) with metal handrails that goes far, far up.

My head is spinning...

What, are your arthritic knees trembling treacherously? Everything will be fine! We are not real travelers, but virtual ones, such obstacles are nothing to us.

So let's boldly stomp up the stone stairs. And those who love comfort can use the elevator. It's not virtual, but real.

We stomp-stomp-stomp higher and higher. We need to overcome 334 steps. If you get bored, you can look out the lattice windows in the wall.

The tower is not just some hollow space with a lonely staircase going up. In addition to the elevator shaft (3), there are several interior rooms here.

One of them is a former prison room (4). At one time, particularly violent members of Parliament were kept here. Above the prison room are two U-shaped nooks.

These are mini-galleries (5) that display exhibits dedicated to Big Ben. Even higher up is an unremarkable storage room (6).

By the way, some of you probably shrugged your shoulders in bewilderment when you saw the inscription on the door of the Elizabeth Tower. Yes, in fact, the famous tower is called the Elizabeth Tower. And until 2012, it was officially called the "Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster." And Big Ben is just a colloquial tourist name.

Our history crash course is interrupted by a door.

We open it and find ourselves inside a rather narrow corridor, where we see a giant clock face.

But it looks somehow different. And all because we are on its other side.

And this is what the dial looks like from the outside.

Try to determine its dimensions by eye. Okay, don't strain yourself - the diameter of the dial is 7 meters. The length of the hands is 2.7 and 4.2 meters.

A thick thing comes out of the middle of the dial - this is a rotating shaft that sets the giant hands in motion.

And the numerous bulbs serve to effectively illuminate the dial in the dark. Like this:

Yes, it looks impressive…

And what about the outside?

Okay, let's quickly wash down the valocordin with water and go look at the outside of the dial.

To get to it, we, like true gentlemen, will squeeze out one of the segments of the dial glass and squeeze out.

Ivan Petrovich from Nizhnyaya Bugulma immediately hung limply on the large hand of the clock.

Although he could have carelessly swung his legs like Professor Moriarty

But we didn't make such a difficult journey to embarrass ourselves in front of all of Londongrad, did we? So let's enjoy the views.

Ivan Petrovich cautiously asks how many meters to the ground? We advise Ivan Petrovich to hold on tighter to the clock hand, otherwise he will have to fall from a height of 65 meters ????

Okay, we've had enough adrenaline. We push our limp body back into the corridor with shaking hands.

As some may have already guessed, there are four clock faces in the tower - one on each side. You can go around them all, but they are not much different from each other.

We return back to the door. We see an ornate metal staircase. We climb up it.

We open the door.

And we find ourselves in a room with a clock mechanism (7).

Yes, this place can be called the heart of Big Ben. And like any heart, it beats. Every two seconds, the huge Victorian mechanism makes a ringing "tick".

By the way, here is the famous pendulum, on which the watchmaker puts coins from time to time to adjust the movement.

Each addition/deduction changes the time by +/- 2 seconds.

As hundreds of years ago, the clock is wound manually.

Under the clock mechanism is a shaft where the weights of the clock mechanism hang.

They are the force that rotates the hands and strikes the bells.

We return back. Again we see another flight of stairs. Exhale, it is short. We climb it and stumble upon a door. We open it.

Voila – we are inside the first floor of the bell tower (8)!

It is located just above the room with the clock (7).

This is a fairly spacious room, in the walls of which a row of wide barred windows gape.

There are five bells in the room. The one in the middle is called Big Ben.

In fact, it is to this large bell that the famous Elizabeth Tower owes its unofficial name.

The other bells are called quarter bells. By the way, they are all different sizes.

Every 15 minutes, the quarter bells play part of the Westminster Clock motif. And every hour, after the quarter bells strike, a loud hammer strikes the outside of Big Ben. The number of strikes indicates what time it is. You can listen to the bells in this video:

It is better to cover your ears at this time. Because the bells strike at 118 dB – that’s about as loud as a plane taking off ????

The bells are supported by a powerful metal structure. Some of its parts are as thick as a rail!

If you look closely, you can see structures that resemble winches. These are the mechanisms that operate the hammers that strike the bells.

Don't you think it's too dark here and there's clearly not enough fresh air? Let's get outside. Yes, yes, Klavdiya Ivanovna, you understood everything correctly - get out the valocordin!

We climb out of the barred window onto the narrow balcony above the clock face and enjoy the views of London.

Well, that's enough. Enough of all the good things. Let's continue our virtual journey. We need to climb to the very top of the tower.

We climb back into the bell tower and see a twisted metal staircase. We climb up it.

We are still in the bell tower, but only on its second floor (9). Below us is a crossroad of several thick metal beams - it is on this structure that the bells of Big Ben are suspended.

Our staircase does not even think of ending. So we hold on tightly to the handrails and stomp up.

High up we see a square lattice floor. That's where our spiral staircase leads.

So we reached the square tower (10). It's almost the top of Big Ben.

Here is the so-called Ayrton Light. In fact, it is just a large lantern.

Previously, it had gas lamps. But in our technological age, they were replaced by LEDs.

The lantern shines when the parliament is in session. In the dark, it looks quite impressive.