Amidst the many centuries-old marvels that the city of London has to offer, I would certainly consider the British Library one of London's marvels for the present day. Visually, even from just the outside, the library is an impressive sight, and although the architectural style is modern, it has enough "Old World" touches to make a very open, bright, and inviting place for visitors.
The British Library is obviously first and foremost a library, with literally millions of documents and books in print and other formats contained in its catalog. However, the library also has several galleries of well-preserved, original historical manuscripts that are open for public viewing. As I made my way through one of these galleries I naturally felt like I was in a museum, although the member of the library staff who was giving us the tour had stated that on rare occasions, even items from these gallery collections are considered "working" and have been utilized by individuals for research.
As with the various museums that our class has visited around London, I came away from the British Library with a similar feeling of amazement that the city made such a worthy investment over the years to collect, preserve, and give ready access to such a vast collection of knowledge to the general public. The British Library truly is one of the marvels of London!
While visiting the Tower of London today, I began to realize that the history of this castle really has two sides to it. On the one hand, in the present day the castle is obviously a preserved historical site and tourist attraction, yet in its previous life as a military fortress and prison it also represents a much darker part of London's history.
Even the exhibits seem to emphasize this duality of the Tower's place in history. The lavish Crown Jewels collection of the monarchy are on display, yet visitors can also see an extensive collection of the weapons of war, along with instruments of torture.
The Tower of London was a good follow-on visit from Hampton Court Palace earlier this week, as it reinforced the notion of the king wielding absolute power over the land. And, that even the most minor of infractions (legitimate or otherwise) could easily land an unfortunate soul in prison at the Tower, subjected to whatever degree of penalty saw fit by the king. We can at least be thankful that England (and the rest of the world, for the most part) has moved on from this in the last several hundred years!
Our class had been given a brief preview of St. Paul's Cathedral during a coach tour earlier on, but today was finally our opportunity to explore the church in-depth. I had been looking forward to our class visit for awhile, especially after hearing how wonderful the cathedral was from several of my flatmates.
I was definitely not disappointed. Although photography was not permitted inside the cathedral, that actually gave me a better opportunity to really focus on experiencing the cathedral itself, rather than being constantly focused on taking photos of it. It was interesting to compare it to Westminster Abbey, both in terms of architectural style and history.
I also had the opportunity to climb to the Golden Gallery atop St. Paul's outer dome, some 528 total steps up from the cathedral floor. The reward for the vertical journey is a spectacular, 360-degree view of central London. I could have easily lingered in the Golden Gallery, but due to the sheer number of people who were making the ascent, cathedral staff had to keep everyone moving. Nevertheless, I was able to take several photos from this lovely vantage point before having to make the long journey back down to the ground level.
A few of my classmates and I chose to remain at St. Paul's to attend Evensong, a prayer service held every Tuesday evening. It was a unique experience to attend an Anglican service, and to finally hear the amazing acoustics inside the cathedral, especially with the organ and boy's choir leading the congregation in prayer and song. It was a wonderful way to conclude an afternoon at St. Paul's!
Mel Brooks' line from History of the World, Part 1 would be quite appropriate for today's visit to Hampton Court Palace. Looking back on this time period, it's rather remarkable to consider the level of sheer luxury and opulence that surrounded the monarchy, and how everything was intentionally designed and styled to reinforce their status as God-granted rulers of the land.
At the same time, it was also interesting to consider that without the king's army of servants waiting on him hand and foot, nor the lines of subjects waiting to have an audience with their ruler, a palace such as this is otherwise a very big, empty space. Most every room in the palace seemed to be designed to accommodate large numbers of people, yet walking through some of the large galleries and sitting rooms, I began to wonder what it must have been like when the crowds of subjects and guests had long gone. Did it ever feel "lonely at the top" for the king and queen to be roaming these huge, elaborately decorated rooms alone?
No less impressive were the gardens behind the palace, that just seemed to stretch on forever in all directions. I was reminded of a similar image of a vast palace garden when I visited Versailles in 2004. Again, it was quite impressive to think that these acres-upon-acres of well-trimmed and meticulously maintained grounds were solely for the monarchs and their heirs. The Hampton Court Palace, like other palaces of the monarchy, is certainly far-removed from the practicalities (and economics) of modern-day, but was definitely a product of its time, and certainly has its place in Britain's history.
If you're a fan of the Fab Four, listen here for information on easy-to-find Beatles sites you can visit right here in London!
Podcast features excerpts from original Beatles recordings:
"I've Got A Feeling" (Lennon/McCartney) "Dig A Pony" (Lennon/McCartney) "Get Back" (Lennon/McCartney) "You Never Give Me Your Money" (Lennon/McCartney) "Come Together" (Lennon/McCartney) "The End" (Lennon/McCartney)
Amidst the many centuries-old marvels that the city of London has to offer, I would certainly consider the British Library one of London's marvels for the present day. Visually, even from just the outside, the library is an impressive sight, and although the architectural style is modern, it has enough "Old World" touches to make a very open, bright, and inviting place for visitors.
well-preserved, original historical manuscripts that are open for public viewing. As I made my way through one of these galleries I naturally felt like I was in a museum, although the member of the library staff who was giving us the tour had stated that on rare occasions, even items from these gallery collections are considered "working" and have been utilized by individuals for research.
