Central London's Popular Landmarks

Nelson Column, Trafalgar Square, London, England Art Print
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Trafalgar Square is one of London's best known areas. Situated at the northern end of Whitehall, it is the home of Nelson's Column and the National Gallery, both of them can be described as among London's top landmarks.

The idea of a magnificent square in the centre of London originally belonged to the Prince Regent (later King George IV) in the early 19th century. He engaged architect John Nash to design a magnificent square to celebrate the country's navy, which had won great battles against the French, most notably at Trafalgar.

The Prince's reputation for extravagance worked against him, though, and Parliament refused to fund his plans. However, there was still a desire to celebrate England's naval victories so planning, mostly by committees, went ahead and produced much of the Square we see today.

The centrepiece, Nelson's Column, was erected in the mid 19th century and stands 145 ft high. At the bottom of the column, bas-reliefs commemorate Admiral Horatio Nelson's greatest victories: Cape St Vincent, the Nile, Copenhagen and Trafalgar.

One of the great attractions for many visitors to the Square was feeding the pigeons. There was a stall selling food for them and pigeon numbers were getting totally out of hand. Their droppings disfigured the Square and surrounding buildings and was also a health hazard. At the beginning of 2001, London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, decreed that feeding pigeons must cease. Although many Londoners agreed with this, others did protest, particularly the man selling the pigeon food!

Picture below: A Horseguard on Sentry Duty in Whitehall
Copyright © Donderwolk - Creative Common License

View from Nelson's Column Along Whitehall Showing Big Ben Photographic Print
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Once the location of Whitehall Palace before it was destroyed by fire, it is now the main thoroughfare between Parliament Square and Trafalgar Square. It is also home to major government ministries, like the Home Office and the Foreign Office, housed in grand neo-classical buildings.

Nowadays, Horse Guards, halfway along the street on the western side, is the most popular attraction for visitors. Here you can see soldiers in their dress uniform of red coats and black busbies on sentry duty. Try as you might, and people really do try, you will get no reaction, no change of facial expression, from these sentries. Go along at 11am and you will see the ceremony of the Changing of the Guard.

In the centre of Whitehall, towards the Parliament Square end, stands the Cenotaph, the country's principal memorial to the dead of the 20th century's two world wars. There is an official ceremony to honour the dead held every year on Armistice Day, 11th November. It is attended by the Queen, Prime Minister and other members of Government and the Royal Family. There is also a parade of veterans.

Near the Cenotaph, on the western side of Whitehall, you will see a tiny turning; this is Downing Street containing the home and offices of the Prime Minister (10 Downing Street) and, next door, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. At one time the street was open and people could walk past the famous address but now there are gates, guarded by police.

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Address:
Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms
Clive Steps, King Charles Street
London SW1A 2AQ

Open: daily except 24, 25 and 26 December.
9:30am - 6.00pm (last admission 5.00 pm)

The Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum are situated very close to the Prime Minister's residence in Downing Street.

On Display in the Cabinet War Rooms

* Churchill's bedroom, complete with his desk, telephones and microphone for broadcasting via the BBC. This was also the place he met visiting VIPs.
* The Map Room is situated next to Sir Winston's bedroom at his insistence. This was in use throughout the war and was centre of activity. When the War Rooms were closed in August 1945, everything in this room was left exactly as we see it now.
* You can see the Cabinet Office where Churchill conducted meetings of his senior ministers.
* In spite of its grand name, the Transatlantic Telephone Room was once a broom cupboard and is surprisingly small for such an important function. Its link to the White House was the first 'hot line' between the leaders of the UK and USA. The telephone conversations were sent via a scrambler which had to housed in the basement of Selfridges department store because it was so huge there was no room for it elsewhere.
* The Churchill suite, opened in early April 2003, gives visitors the opportunity to see the rooms used by Clementine Churchill, Sir Winston's wife, and the Chief of Staff's planning room.

Sir Winston Churchill Art Print
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The Churchill Museum
Opened by HM The Queen in February 2005, The Churchill Museum inside the Cabinet War Rooms, is the first major museum in the world solely dedicated to the life and achievements of Sir Winston Churchill. There is over 9000 square feet of exhibition space displaying artefacts, photographs, documents and film, including material never seen by the public before, interspersed with numerous interactive exhibits.

The museum divides Churchill's life into five sections:

- Young Churchill (1874-1900)
- Maverick Politician (1900-1929)
- Wilderness Years (1929-1939)
- War Leader (1940-1945)
- Cold War Statesman (1945-1965)

A ground breaking feature of the Churchill Museum is a unique electronic 'Lifeline' table. The Lifeline is a computerised filing cabinet, with a virtual file containing items relating to each year, and in many cases each month and day, of Churchill's life. Touching the strip at the edge of the Lifeline will bring up contextual data, documents, films, photographs and even sound tracks that relate to his life whilst providing fascinating historical context.

The Churchill family, and private individuals and benefactors from across the globe have given many items for display including Churchill's clothing such as his signature red siren suit and iconic spotted bow tie, both produced for him personally by a top West End (of London) tailor. The displays include many uniquely personal documents relating to his life - school reports, love letters from and to his wife Clementine, and the ransom note for the escape of Churchill from a South African prisoner of war camp.

Never give in - never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

Sir Winston Churchill, 1941

Aerial View of London, Houses of Parliament Photographic Print
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The Houses of Parliament are sometimes referred to as the Palace of Westminster because it was built for Edward the Confessor and then, from 1066, it became the main residence of William the Conqueror and his successors until the reign of Henry VIII in the 16th century.

Parliament, as we know it today, evolved from meetings held by the King's Council in Westminster Hall, part of the palace.

In 1834 a disastrous fire destroyed much of the building with the exception of Westminster Hall, the Cloisters and the Jewel Tower. The fire was caused by burning a large quantity of elm sticks (used as tally sticks to keep the Exchequer's accounts) in a large furnace beneath the Lords' Chamber. Within hours much of the Palace of Westminster was destroyed.

Architects were invited to submit plans for the new building in the Gothic or Elizabethan style and Sir Charles Barry was the winning architect. Because Barry had limited experience of Gothic architecture he teamed up with Augustus Welby Pugin. Building work commenced in 1837. The House of Lords opened ten years later and four years after that, the Commons also opened.

If you wish to see inside the Houses of Parliament, you can contact your MP, if you are a UK resident, or join a tour which only take place during August and September when politicians are on vacation.

Address: Parliament Square, London SW1

Tube: Westminster on the District and Circle lines

Directions: When you come out of the tube station, the Houses of Parliament are immediately in front of you.

The London Eye, London Photographic Print
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The London Eye (also called the Millennium Wheel), when it was built, was the world's tallest observation wheel giving passengers views right across the capital city. Sinced then, wheels have been built in China and Singapore which are taller.

Located on the South Bank of the Thames, the London Eye stands at 135 metres high and takes 30 minutes for one revolution. The viewing distance, on a clear day, is 25 miles.

It was designed by architects David Marks and Julia Barfield who, before starting their own company, worked for innovative architects, Sir Richard Rogers and Lord Norman Foster.

In 1995 the Sunday Times newspaper ran a competition in partnership with the Architecture Foundation for a Millennium Landmark for London. In response, Marks and Barfield had the idea of an observation wheel and set to work to develop the idea and address the practicalities. Another newspaper, the Evening Standard, took up and publicised their idea and British Airways offered sponsorship.

Unfortunately, due to a problem with one of its unique capsules, it was not working in time for 31st December 1999 but was running and carrying passengers a month later.

Since it opened in March 2000 up until June 2008, it has carried 30 million people and is one of London's most popular attractions.

Crowds attending a festival outside the Royal Festival Hall,
part of the Southbank Centre

The Festival of Britain
Life in Britain in 1951 was fairly bleak. Wartime rationing continued, bombsites were an everyday experience and people were still suffering from the loss of friends, family and lovers during the Second World War.

To counteract this mood and to lift the spirits of the nation The Festival of Britain was conceived. It opened in May 1951 and ran until September of the same year. The focus of the Festival was the South Bank of the Thames in London. New buildings, including the Royal Festival Hall, were constructed and inside the story of Britain and its achievements were told.

Royal Festival Hall
This was the only building constructed for the Festival of Britain designed to remain after the festival ended. It was the first major public construction to be built since the the Second World War, took 20 months to complete and cost £2 million. It was also the first post-war building to be listed.

Visitors to the Festival of Britain in 1951 on the site of today's Southbank Centre

The first concert took place on the 3rd May 1951 and, naturally enough for the start of the Festival of Britain, the works performed were by British composers including by Elgar, Purcell, Arne and Vaughan Williams. Sir Adrian Boult and Sir Malcolm Sargent conducted the orchestra.

Today it is an important concert venue attracting major artists from all over the world. As well as concerts, it is a venue for dance, talks and the visual arts.

Queen Elizabeth Hall
This is a music venue on the South Bank in London which has daily performances of all kinds of music including classical, jazz, and avant-garde. The Queen Elizabeth Hall is situated next to the the Royal Festival Hall and the Hayward Gallery. It is connected to the smaller Purcell Room, used for recitals.

The Hayward Gallery
This art gallery is not one of London's better loved buildings. It's brutalist architecture wins it few friends. It was opened by the Queen on 9th July 1968 and was named after Sir Isaac Hayward, a former leader of the London County Council.

As well as having responsibility for the Arts Council Collection of over 7000 works of art including paintings, sculpture, photographs and installations. These are on loan to museums and galleries all over the country.

The Hayward Gallery has regular exhibitions of classical and contemporary art with particular emphasis on current British and foreign artists.

Location of the South Bank Centre: Near Waterloo Bridge on the South Bank of the River Thames

Nearest Tube: Waterloo on the Northern, Jubilee and Bakerloo Lines

Nearest Rail Station: Waterloo

Buckingham Palace, London, England, United Kingdom Photographic Print
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Originally the Palace of Whitehall was was the official London residence of the monarch. When that was burnt down in 1698, St James's Palace on the Mall became the monarch's official residence.

George IV, before his accession to the throne in 1820, had been living in Carlton House, Pall Mall. When he became King he wanted something more imposing. With great reluctance, Parliament granted the King £200,000 (a huge fortune at the time) to renovate the delapidated Buckingham House. George IV had other ideas and commissioned John Nash to rebuild it almost entirely. The shell of the original house and some of the floorplan was retained, but the house was made much bigger and the costs of the renovation reached £700,000. George IV died before it was completed and his successor, William IV never lived there either. Queen Victoria was the first monarch to take up residence in Buckingham Palace.

The State Rooms in Buckingham Palace are open to visitors in the summer giving an opportunity to see the fabulous antiques and picture collection.

Address: Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1A 1AA

Tube: Victoria - Circle, District and Victoria lines

Directions: Leave the tube station, turning right into Buckingham Palace Road and walk for about 5 or 10 minutes.

Opening times: August and September, check before visiting because State occasions, etc, may cause opening times to change at short notice.

The Mammal Gallery, Natural History Museum, London
Copyright: The Natural History Museum, London'

Location: Cromwell Road, London, SW7. Nearest tube: South Kensington

What do almost all kids love? Dinosaurs, hands on displays, nature... The Natural History Museum is popular with every child that visits and it makes them very welcome too.

It has an excellent display including an animatronic Tyrannosaurus rex and a real dinosaur, Diplodocus, skeleton dominating the entrance to the Life Gallery where dinosaur displays are housed.

The museum also has another giant creature on display - a life size model of a blue whale suspended from the ceiling in the section devoted to mammals. Here you can see skeletons and other items related to mammals of all kinds including the sabre toothed tiger and polar bears.

Maybe your children prefer something a little smaller. How about ants? See them producing their own food. You can find out more about your own bodies too, in the Human Biology section.

Central Hall, Natural History Museum, London
Copyright: The Natural History Museum, London'

As well as the displays on living creatures, there is also a gallery devoted to earth sciences, the centrepiece of which is a giant model of the earth while the walls show the constellations and planets surrounding earth. Here you can learn about the forces that shape the earth and the its changing climate. Here you can see fossils, minerals and rocks with information on the geology of the British Isles.

Volcanic activity is probably the most spectacular of all earth's natural phenomena and at the Natural History Museum you can experience an earthquake for yourself in the simulator or find out what is actually happening when a volcano erupts.

Not only is the museum an excellent place to visit for its displays but it is housed in a wonderful Victorian Gothic building. It is worth a visit just for the architecture alone.

Crocus in Flower in Spring in Hyde Park, London Photographic Print
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This is the biggest of the Royal Parks, covering 340 acres. Once part of a manor left to the monastery at Westminster soon after the Norman Invasion, deer, wild bulls and boar roamed freely. Henry VIII gained ownership after the 16th century Dissolution of the Monasteries and he used it for hunting. It was only opened to the public in the early 17th century. It became immensely fashionable and then in the 19th century it was the site of the Great Exhibition housed in the Crystal Palace.

Today it's popular with Londoners and visitors to the capital alike. On fine days, you will see people who work nearby sitting in the park eating their lunches. On very hot days, some of them will be lying down hoping to get a sun tan in their lunchtime. There will be people playing with a ball or frisbee, others walking their dogs and some sitting quietly reading.

Special attractions:

* The Serpentine - the man-made lake where you can hire a boat and try your hand at rowing.
* Kensington Gardens, especially the Princess Diana Memorial Walk, on the west side of the park
* Statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
* Rotten Row where people ride their horses
* Pet Cemetary at Victoria Gate on Bayswater
* The Queen Elizabeth Gates on the south-eastern end adjoining Park Lane. They were erected in honour of the Queen Mother.
* Speakers Corner, on the north east corner by Marble Arch, is famous for its orators standing on soapboxes on Sundays declaiming their views to the world.