|
More than 300
museums and galleries can be found in this cultural city
which contain everything from ancient ruins to art spanning
over the last five centuries and postmodern collections. Art
and culture is spread all over this fabulous metropolis and
due to it's unique history many small aspects of traditional
European life still spring up everywhere.
London is
situated in southeastern England along the Thames River.
With a population of about 7 million, this vast metropolis
is by far the largest city in Europe, a distinction it has
maintained since the 17th century. In the 19th century it
was the largest and most influential city in the world, the
center of a large and prosperous overseas empire. Although
it no longer ranks among the world's most populous cities,
London is still one of the world's major financial and
cultural capitals.
By European
standards, London is physically spread out and dispersed,
without a predominant focal point. It therefore defies easy
general description, as the city's character is found in its
diverse and distinct sections. Many of these sections began
as separate villages, and today they maintain some of their
individual identities. London's image is partly defined by
its past, as its major buildings and institutions represent
2000 years of community history. Its image is also the
product of a new multiethnic mix of people and the creative
impulse of the new popular culture of “Cool Britannia,” a
phrase Britain's promoters conceived in the mid-1990s to
portray Britain as modern and trendy.
London's
climate is generally mild and damp, although it can be
erratic. This region is one of the driest parts of Britain,
and the average annual rainfall is only 750 mm (30 in).
However, the weather is generally cloudy, and some rain is
liable to fall on half the days of the year. With a mean
temperature in July of about 18° C (about 64° F), London has
warmer summers than most of the island, although heat waves
are infrequent and seldom last long. Temperatures rarely go
above 26° C (78° F). Winters are relatively frosty, however,
and the mean temperature in January is 4° C (40° F). Fog
frequently develops in winter. In the past, foggy days were
aggravated by smoke, resulting in London's traditional
"pea-soupers." However, since the use of coal has
significantly declined, these have largely disappeared.
London and Its Metropolitan Area
London's
metropolitan area extends for more than 30 miles at its
widest point, covering some 1610 sq km (620 sq mi). This
vast urban territory is divided into 33 political units—32
boroughs and the City of London. At the core of this immense
urban area is Central London. Most of Central London is
located north of the Thames, on a gentle slope that rises to
the north. It contains about 12 of the 33 political units,
including the City of London, the City of Westminster, and
districts in the West End. The City of London is the
traditional heart of the city and stands as its own
political unit. The City of Westminster is the seat of the
national government. Much of the outer portion of this huge
conglomeration of people and activities is made up of
low-rise residential development.
The City of London
The
historical center of London is now a relatively small area
still known as the City, which covers only about 2.6 sq km
(about 1 sq mi). The City is capitalized, to distinguish it
from the larger metropolis. This is where London began as a
Roman colonial town around AD 50, at the point where the
Romans built the first bridge in London. Today this area is
one of the world's leading financial centers. Most of the
financial activities are crowded along Thread needle Street,
near the intersection known as the Bank, which includes the
huge Bank of England complex, the Royal Exchange, and the
Stock Exchange. The permanent residential population of the
City is now less than 6000, but about 350,000 commute here
daily to work. The only large residential portion of the
City is the Barbican Centre, a concrete complex of towers,
parking garages, and pedestrian walkways located on the
northern edge of the City. The Barbican was built to replace
older buildings destroyed in World War II (1939-1945), when
the Germans heavily bombed London.
Some of the
City's older elegance and significance remains despite the
architectural havoc caused by the Blitz and postwar
developers. The most prominent landmark is Saint Paul's
Cathedral, designed by English architect Christopher Wren to
replace the original church, which was destroyed during the
Great Fire of London in 1666. At the City's eastern boundary
is the Tower of London, where the Crown imprisoned many
important figures. It was begun in the 11th century by the
Norman invader, William the Conqueror, to awe a city he had
not completely conquered. Successive monarchs added to the
original, central White Tower, and built walls to enclose
the 7-hectare (18-acre) site. Its function now is primarily
ceremonial, although it still guards the Crown Jewels.
Some of the
City's traditional functions have disappeared. The newspaper
industry was concentrated in the Fleet Street area for
centuries, but during the 1980s the Times and other papers
moved to highly automated quarters at the Docklands in the
East End. The old wholesale fish market, Billingsgate,
located for centuries on the river between the Tower and
London Bridge, also moved to the Docklands.
The City of Westminster
The City of
Westminster, about two miles upstream from the City of
London, emerged as England's political and religious center
of power after the 11th century. At the heart of Westminster
is Westminster Abbey, begun by Edward the Confessor in the
11th century and rebuilt in the 13th century. It has always
been closely associated with the monarchy and is used for
such state occasions as coronations and royal funerals. It
is also a giant mausoleum, and more than 3000 notable people
are buried there. Statues and monuments line the magnificent
nave. Virtually across the street are the Houses of
Parliament, officially called the New Palace of Westminster.
Farther west is the monarch's permanent residence in London,
Buckingham Palace.
To the
north, Trafalgar Square links the political and religious
section of Westminster to the rest of west London. This
square is a modest version of the great ceremonial squares
of Europe, and was built in dedication to British naval
commander Viscount Horatio Nelson, whose monument is at the
square's center. It has long been a popular site for
large-scale political demonstrations. Some significant
buildings, such as the National Gallery, are on the square.
On the northeast corner is Saint Martin-in-the-Fields, the
classical-style church designed by James Gibbs in the 1720s.
The West End
To the west
and north of Trafalgar Square is the West End, which is
usually regarded as the center of town because it is
London's shopping and entertainment hub. The busiest
shopping area is Oxford Street, where such large department
stores as Selfridges, John Lewis, and Marks and Spencer are
located. Other well-known shopping areas include
Knightsbridge, the location of Harrods department store; and
Piccadilly, where Fortnum and Mason specializes in fine
food. The main entertainment attractions are scattered
throughout the Soho and Covent Garden sections, northeast of
Piccadilly. Soho and Covent Garden were created as
residential areas in the 17th century, but now are home to
shops, theaters, and street entertainers. The Royal Opera
House and most of London's 40 or so major theaters are here,
as are the large movie houses, and hundreds of restaurants,
cafés, and bars.
Located just
west of Soho and Covent Garden in the West End is a more
residential area. Much of the urban design here is based on
the residential square, an imitation of European precedents,
with uniform houses built around an open space. The houses
on these squares were often built for the aristocracy and
the upper middle class. The relatively dense development of
this area is broken up by a series of Royal Parks, areas
once owned by the Crown, including Hyde Park, Kensington
Gardens, and Regent's Park.
In the
northern part of the West End is Bloomsbury, the city's
traditional intellectual center, with its concentration of
bookshops and homes of writers and academics. In the early
20th century a number of famous writers, critics, and
artists who lived here became known as the Bloomsbury Group.
Here, too, is the British Museum, one of London's chief
tourist attractions. Nearby is the giant complex of the
University of London, whose various colleges and departments
have taken over much of Bloomsbury.
The East End and Docklands
The East
End, beyond the City of London and the Tower, has long been
the home of London's docks and immigrants. It has frequently
been characterized by slums, poverty, and crime. This is the
area where the notorious criminal Jack the Ripper prowled.
Some portions, such as Bethnal Green, were slums during the
Victorian period. Many poorer immigrants and working-class
Londoners still reside in the East End, but its weekend
street markets are very popular, especially Petticoat Lane,
which runs along the length of Middlesex Street. Although
Middlesex Street is no longer the center of the clothing
trade, its merchandise is still geared toward apparel. Much
of the old dockyard area has been abandoned and is being
redeveloped as the Docklands, an ambitious project designed
to lure London's financial activities away from the
congested City. The heart of the Docklands is the Isle of
Dogs, a peninsula where the Royal Kennels were once
situated.
North London
North London
was made up of satellite villages until the 19th century
when the underground railroad (known locally as the Tube)
opened this area up to development. Camden Town, on Regent's
Canal, has a popular weekend market that sells inexpensive
clothing and jewelry. Farther north are elegant 18th-century
villages, such as Hampstead, a center for writers; and
Highgate, renowned for London's best-known cemetery, which
includes the grave and a large bust of Karl Marx. A central
fixture of north London is the 324-hectare (800-acre)
Hampstead Heath, a large public park.
South London
The area
south of the Thames has long been regarded with disdain by
the rest of the city. For centuries Southwark, originally
the area around the southern end of London Bridge, was the
disreputable entertainment center of London, with brothels,
bars, and theaters outside of the City's jurisdiction. The
sacred and the profane lived in close proximity here. Not
far from the infamous Bankside, where brutal sports like
cockfighting and bearbaiting took place, was the beautiful
Southwark Cathedral, which dates from the 13th century.
Bankside was also the location of Elizabethan theaters,
which were restricted in the City because they were
considered places of vice. One of these, the Globe Theatre,
where William Shakespeare put on his greatest plays, was
recently reconstructed.
Farther
along the river to the west is the South Bank Centre
cultural complex, begun as part of the Festival of Britain
in 1951. The Festival of Britain was a vehicle for lifting
the spirits of Londoners after the trials of World War II.
The most important building in the center is the Royal
Festival Hall, a concert hall that was built for the
festival. The Royal National Theatre and the National Film
Theatre are also part of the South Bank Centre.
|
