The Palace of Westminster’s Elizabeth Tower, more commonly known as ‘Big Ben’, will be falling silent as of next week (21st August, 2017) for the first time in a decade.
A very iconic feature to the UK’s capital city, Big Ben will be receiving some major and essential repairs. For the safety of the workers carrying out the work, the famous bell tower’s chime will be silenced for the next 4 years.
For the last 157 years, Big Ben has sounded on the hour. The last time it was silenced was back in 2007, and before that was between 1983 and 1985, due to major refurbishments.
Even though it will make its last chime on Monday (21st August), it will still be sounding for important events such as New Year’s Eve and Remembrance Sunday.
Big Ben back in 1984. (Image: Flickr)
The landmark is said to be the most photographed structure in the UK, but it currently has scaffolding as work has begun. If you’re visiting London any time soon then I’m afraid your pictures may differ to what you expect.
Maintanence is to be carried out on the tower to make it a lot more energy efficient, as well as having the clock face deconstructed piece by piece to have its 4 dials cleaned and repaired.
If you somehow still rely on Big Ben to tell the time, just be warned that there will be times the clock faces will be covered. While the time will still be displaying due to being run by an electric motor, it won’t always be visible.
Source: BBC