Flickr, dgmiami

Tower ("tower"), the Tower of London (Eng. Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, Tower of London) is a fortress.The Tower of London is one of the main symbols of Great Britain, occupying a special place in the history of the English nation.The Tower, a fortress standing on the north bank of the Thames, is the historic center of London and one of the oldest buildings in England. As the Duke of Edinburgh wrote in his book dedicated to the Tower's 900th anniversary, "throughout its history, the Tower of London has been a fortress, a palace, a repository of the royal jewels, an arsenal, a mint, a prison, an observatory, a zoo, a place attracting tourists."The foundation of the Tower fortress is attributed to William I. After the Norman conquest of England, William I began building defensive castles to intimidate the conquered Anglo-Saxons. One of the largest in 1078 was the Tower.

Flickr, glottis2009

Tower Bridge (Eng. Tower Bridge) is a bascule bridge in central London over the River Thames, near the Tower of London. It is sometimes confused with London Bridge, located upstream. Opened in 1894. It is also one of the symbols of London and Britain.The bridge was designed by Horace Jones; it is a bascule bridge 244 m long with two towers 65 m high set on intermediate piers. The central span between the towers, 61 m long, is divided into two lifting leaves, which can be raised to an angle of 83° to allow ships to pass. Each of the more than thousand-ton leaves is fitted with a counterweight that minimizes the required effort and allows the bridge to open in one minute. The span is operated by a hydraulic system, originally water-powered, with a working pressure of 50 bar (750 psi). Water was pumped by two steam engines with a total power of 360 hp. The system was manufactured by the company "W. G. Armstrong Mitchell".

Flickr, Demarmels

The Design Museum is located in picturesque central London, not far from Tower Bridge. The white building with its strict geometric forms invites even casual passersby to step inside by its appearance alone.

One of the main achievements of the creators of London's Design Museum is that they taught people to look at mass-consumption goods in a new way. It hosts exhibitions of clothing, television set, furniture, and video game design… The displays are constantly updated, so you can always find something original in the exhibition halls.

This museum was created relatively recently. In 1989, Terence Conran, a British designer and owner of a chain of fashion stores, together with his team, decided to reconstruct old banana warehouses, turning them into a museum. As we can see, he succeeded brilliantly.

The Design Museum has 3 floors in total. The first houses a cafe and a shop with books and souvenirs, where you can buy an unusual and even exclusive gift. The second floor is the main exhibition venue. And the third contains permanent and temporary exhibitions devoted to the history of design. In addition, the "Education Centre" is located here, where interactive lectures for schoolchildren are held.

Flickr, cuppyuppycake

The Shard (The Shard London Bridge, translated into Russian as "Shard of Glass" or simply "Shard") , was built in London on the site of Southwark Towers, a 25-story office center built in 1975. The opening ceremony took place on 5 July 2012.[1]30 March 2012 the building reached its full height of 309 meters, becoming not only the tallest building in London, but also the tallest building in the European Union and the 45th in the world.On the top floor of the building are the highest observation deck and gallery in Great Britain. The form of the building was developed as an irregular pyramid clad in glass. 72 floors with offices, apartments, gardens, and technical premises: Italian architect Renzo Piano calls his creation a "vertical city". The skyscraper is called "Shard," which means "fragment" in translation, and is clad in thousands of glass panels that shine in the sun. Tourists were first allowed into the pyramid, built mainly with funds from Qatar, in February 2013.