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Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament The British seat of Government is on the Banks of the River Thames. It is called the Palace of Westminster or POW and holds the elected House of Commons and the selected upper House of Lords. One of the most instantly recognizable symbols of London is that of Big Ben. Actually Big Ben is the name of one of the large bells inside the Tower and this part of the building is more correctly called Clock Tower and not Big Ben. Clock Tower is 96.3m (316 ft) tall. Big Ben weighs 13.8 tonnes. The Big Ben bell was named after the bulky Welshman Sir Benjamin Hall, who was First Commissioner of Works from 1855 to 1858 and whose name was inscribed on the bell but some say it was named after a champion heavyweight boxer of the time called Ben Caunt. On the 16th October 1834 a large fire destroyed nearly all the old Palace of Westminster. Work began on the new Palace in 1840 and formally opened in 1852. Therefore the famous building you see now is relatively new by British standards as it is not over 200 years old yet. It was built at the beginning of the Victorian age near the height of British Imperial power in a Victorian gothic style. It was designed by the architect Sir Charles Barry who won a public competition. Barry was assisted by Augustus Welby Pugin. During World War two and the London Blitz - the Chamber was destroyed by bombs and a subsequent fire on 10th May 1941. It was rebuilt after the war by the architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. Top Tourist Sites of London These are some of the top tourist sites of London: Big Ben, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, The Mall, Horse Guards Parade, Wellington House, New Scotland Yard, Tower of London, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Tate Gallery, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, The Thames, Trafalgar Square, Downing St, Westminster Abbey, Horseguards, St James' Park, St James' Palace, Clarence House, Pall Mall: Reform Club, Buckingham Palace. Green Park, Shepherd's Market, Speakers' Corner, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Albert Hall & Memorial, Kensington Palace, Museum District. The Lawyers' Temple and the Freemasons Temple, Covent Garden, The John Soane Museum, Dr Johnson's House, Hatton Garden, Smithfield, Charterhouse, Bunhill Fields, The Broadgate Centre, Spitalfields, The Hugenot Quarter, 'Little Bengal', St Bartholomews, Old Bailey, The Black Friar Pub, The Wardrobe, St Paul's Cathedral, Bow Bells, The Guildhall, Simpson's Chop House, The George & Vulture, The Bank of England, Leadenhall Market, Lloyd's of London, St Helen's Church, The Monument, Canary Wharf, Cutty Sark, Monument, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, London Zoo, Regent's Park, Camden Town, Baker Street, Camden Market, Chelsea Bridge, Old Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Sloane Square
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