Culture of London. Places to visit - old town, temples, theaters, museums and palaces

» Any traveler can take direct part in receptions, dinners and banquets in the royal garden at Buckingham Palace.
» Walk-in days tradition appeared in the official residence of British monarchs due to lack of funds. In 1992, fire has damaged Windsor Castle, so money for its restoration was needed.
» During a visit to Buckingham Palace, just 19 rooms can be seen. The Throne, Ballroom and Banquet Hall, Music Room and Art Gallery are among them.
» The special flag is hung above the main facade of the building; it announces the presence of the Queen in the palace.
» Buckingham Palace consists of 775 rooms. The royal and guest quarters occupy 52 of them, 19 rooms are aimed at state servants, 188 chambers are reserved for staff, 92 - for offices, and 72 are bathrooms.
» The territory of Buckingham Palace has its own post office, police station, hospital, swimming pool, and cinema. The Palace houses the royal collection of works by Rubens, Rembrandt and other artists.

» The building of Westminster Palace, called The Parliament, is one of the largest buildings in the world. That’s the palace of 1200 rooms, 5 kilometers of corridors, and 100 stairways.
» The most famous among palace’s towers is often referred to as Big Ben. In fact that’s the tower of St. Stephen's, and Big Ben is the name of the bell that was specially cast for the tower.
» The highest tower of the palace is the Victoria Tower, its height is 102 meters. Tower, named after Victoria, was designed so tall with only one purpose - to fit the archive of documents considered by the Parliament of England.
» Westminster Hall is the oldest building of the palace; it covers an area of 1,800 square meters. Its height is 28 meters.
» Westminster Palace is open to visitors only a few weeks a year. Guests can enjoy an informative 70-minute tour throughout September.

» The main purpose of Westminster Abbey is coronation and burial vault of ruling monarchs. The building features a special cross shape.
» Westminster Abbey is a huge necropolis, where the most famous people of England were buried. It has more than 3,300 graves. Here lie the remains of Charles Dickens, Isaac Newton, William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, Lord Byron, Princess Diana and many other prominent English people.
» In 1953, coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the current Queen of England, has taken place in Westminster Abbey.
»  Today that’s the active church. It ministers and holds the liturgy; the west wing serves for royal weddings, but there are also concerts of religious and secular music.
» On April 29, 2011 the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton was held at Westminster Abbey.

» The architectural plan of St. Paul Cathedral looks like an elongated cross. Total height from the floor to the tip of the cross is 111 meters, and weight is more than 65 thousand tons.
» The Cathedral has its own acoustic hallmark, the whispering gallery. It’s said that the whispered word in one end of the gallery can be heard at the other end, in a few tens of meters.
» The St. Paul Cathedral is known by the burial of Admiral Nelson and many other famous personalities. The wedding of Prince Charles and Diana was held there.
» At the tomb of the architect Christopher Wren instead of the monument there is a plate with the inscription that can be translated from Latin as ‘Reader, if you seek a monument, just look around.’
» Visitors of the cathedral should be aware that there is an entrance fee and it would be necessary to walk a lot. There are several floors with lots of stairs; the top floor provides spectacular view of London.

» National Gallery in London exhibits about 2,300 paintings, representing the European art from the mid-13th to the early 20th century in chronological order. Here are all the best artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Van Gogh, Turner, Cezanne and others.
» National Gallery was established in May 1824. Paintings formerly owned by the wealthy banker and a big fan of painting, John Julius Angerstein, have formed the basis of the future major exhibition.
»  In the halls of the gallery you can see a lot of famous paintings, with Titian’s Holy Family, Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Cypresses and Sunflowers , Venus with a Mirror by Velazquez, Landscape with Castle Walls by Rubens, Michelangelo's The Burial of Christ and Raphael's Madonna among them.
» Rembrandt fans can enjoy an impressive collection of his works, which seem to turn the pages of life's greatest painter.
» Besides a collection of masterpieces, the exhibition is notable for the fact that you can listen to audio to or watch detailed video presentations on the paintings and artists in the Sainsbury wing or in the Espresso bar.