Be Sure To Visit The Tower Of London
The Tower of London has been around for over nine hundred years. While it’s an attraction now, it spent most of its time as a prison, and the twenty towers that make it up are fill of ancient traditions, armor, jewels, and history.
The central part of the Tower started as a fort, originally build by William the Conqueror around 1100 CE. At the time, it was the tallest building in the city. In the thirteenth century, Henry III had the tower whitewashed, and the nickname “the White Tower” stuck.
It later turned into a prison, used by Henry VII, among many others. Now it acts as a repository for the extensive crown jewel collection. Since Henry VII was always short on money, he probably didn’t have many jewels to store there.
In addition to acting as a prison and a treasury, the stone complex located near the River Thames and Tower Bridge has been used to house Public Records, the Royal Mine, and the Royal Menagerie, as well as an observatory built in 1675. The Menagerie went on to become the foundation of the London Zoo.
The Tower has been guarded by the Yeoman Warders, also known as the Beefeaters, since they were appointed in 1485 by Henry VII. Their distinctive red costumes make them popular tourist attractions. These guards are now mostly made up of retired military personnel.
The only path up is the spiral staircase on the inside. This stair leads to the Royal Armouries - the national museum of arms an armor. Over forty thousand pieces are on display in this museum, which began during the reign of Charles II - it’s Britain’s oldest museum open to the public.
Over the centuries, other structures were added to the main building. These include the Byward Tower, the Middle Tower, the Garden (or Bloody) Tower, and, across the moat, Traitor’s gate. The moat was drained around 1843, when the last of the towers was built.
Over the centuries, the prison has held a number of royal and otherwise famous prisoners. These have included Sir Walter Raleigh, Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, and the “little princes” - the alleged victims of Richard III. A number of torture devices, including racks, are still on display, as are stones famed to still be bloody.
Of course, most visitors are interested primarily in the Crown Jewels. Kept in Waterloo Block, in the Jewel House are dozens of jeweled scabbards, crowns, collars, necklaces, and many other pieces of jewelry.
In addition to these pieces are several famous stones. These include the Cullinan II, which is set in Queen Victoria’s Imperial State Crown, used in 1838 for her coronation. In addition, the 200 carat Kohinoor, or Mountain of Light, is also housed here.
However, even larger and more impressive is the Star of Africa. An egg sized diamond at five hundred thirty carats, it was cut down from the Cullinan, a diamond over three thousand carats removed from a South African mine in the early Twentieth Century.
If you plan ahead and have the time, you can also see the Ceremony of the Keys. Held every night between nine thirty and ten o’clock, this ritual has been performed without interruption for more than seven hundred years.
Tags: london, tourist attraction, tower, tower of london