Tower Bridge: history, exhibition, interesting facts. Tower Bridge - the gates of London and the main decoration of the city

Tower Bridge is one of the symbols of London. This striking example of Victorian architecture was built in 1894 by Sir Horace Jones. In the second half of the 19th century, due to the increased horse and foot traffic in the port area in the East End, the question arose of building a new crossing over the Thames east of London Bridge. In 1876 a committee was set up to work out a solution to the problem. A competition was organized for which more than 50 projects were submitted. Only in 1884 was the winner announced and a decision was made to build a bridge proposed by jury member H. Jones. Construction work began on June 21, 1886 and continued for 8 years. On June 30, 1894, the bridge was inaugurated by Prince Edward of Wales and his wife, Princess Alexandra.

The Tower Bridge is a 244 m long drawbridge with two 65 m high towers placed on intermediate supports. The central span between the towers, 61 m long, is divided into two lifting wings, which can be raised at an angle of 83 ° to allow ships to pass. Each of the more than 1,000 tonne wings is equipped with a counterweight to minimize the required force and allow the bridge to be opened in one minute. The span is driven by a hydraulic system, originally water. Water was pumped by two steam engines. In 1974, the system was completely updated - now the oil hydraulics are electrically driven. For pedestrians, the design of the bridge provided for the possibility to cross the bridge even during the opening of the span. For this purpose, in addition to the usual sidewalks located along the edge of the carriageway, pedestrian galleries were constructed in the middle part, connecting the towers at a height of 44 meters. It was possible to get into the gallery by stairs located inside the towers. Since 1982, the gallery has been used as a museum and observation deck.

In previous years, when docks, cargo piers and other port facilities were located right in the center of the city (below London Bridge), and dozens of ships rose up the Thames estuary to London, the bridge was raised 50 times a day. Now Tower Bridge is divorced infrequently. And one of the most spectacular attractions is the passage under the Tower Bridge of sea cruise ships (however, only very small, mostly expeditionary, cruise ships can rise to London along the Thames - for example, such as the famous MS Fram, Norwegian cruise company Hurtigruten).

Now there is a museum in the Tower Bridge, you can walk along the pedestrian galleries, shoot from above, tourists have access to the old engine room, where steam engines have been preserved, with the help of which the adjustable mechanisms were previously driven.

1. View from under the bridge up the river:

Looking down the river from the upper walkway. Until relatively recently, these were industrial port areas. Now the industry has left these places and moved 25 kilometers closer to the mouth of the Thames, and the old industrial quarters of the city have been thoroughly restored and turned into newfangled areas called Dockland - beautiful embankments, cafes, restaurants, yacht clubs, office buildings. It is very pleasant that the bright representatives of the industrial architecture of the 19th - early 20th centuries were carefully restored and, having completely changed the "stuffing", retained their appearance.

6. Looking up the river towards the center of London:

8. On the left in the photo is the 310-meter Shard London Bridge skyscraper under construction, the highest in the European Union:

9. Drawbridge span of the Tower Bridge:

10. A ticket to the Tower Bridge Museum, in addition to the main exhibitions and the upper pedestrian galleries, includes a visit to the old machine rooms with steam engines.

History of creation and appearance

In the 19th century, England began to rapidly increase its technical power, expand international trade and political ties, so by the end of the century there was an urgent need to build a new crossing across the Thames. And in 1884, the design of the bridge by Horace Jones was approved. The design in its style successfully harmonizes with the general architectural appearance of the famous Tower of London.

Construction began in 1886, namely on June 21. The construction was fully completed after 8 years, and its opening took place in 1894, on the last day of June, with the participation of Prince Edward and his wife Alexandra.

The bridge has a total length of 244 meters, in the middle there are two towers, each 65 meters high, between them there is a span of 61 meters, which is a drawable element. This allows ships to pass to the city berths at any time of the day or night. The powerful hydraulic system was originally a water system driven by large steam engines. Today, the system has been completely replaced by oil and is controlled by a computer.

Full retraction of the bridge with each wing up to 83 degrees takes less than two minutes. While urban transport is forced to wait for the passage of the vessel, pedestrians could move along specially equipped galleries. However, quite quickly after the opening, pickpockets, as well as girls of easy virtue, began to actively hunt here, so the city leadership closed the crossings in 1910.

Pedestrians were able to walk on them again only in 1982. At the same time, a paid museum of the history of the building was equipped here, as well as a breathtaking observation deck for tourists. You can get here by elevator (two elevators in each tower) or by stairs. The glassed-in galleries offer simply stunning views of the city.

Video: Construction of the Tower Bridge

Initially, Londoners showed the same disdain for the new architectural element as Parisians did for the Eiffel Tower, regarding the towers as old-fashioned and ridiculous.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, namely in 1912, the British pilot Frank McClean managed to fly his biplane between the bridge towers in the space between the upper and lower tiers. A similar incident occurred in 1968, when Alan Pollock, a member of the Royal Air Force, flew to the same place in a fighter jet protesting against the political actions of the government. After the incident, he was promptly arrested and dismissed from service.

During the Second World War, the German air forces made every effort to destroy the most important structures of the British capital. Tower Bridge was among the main targets, however, fortunately, the structure remained intact.

A very famous case in the history of the bridge occurred in 1952, when a worker from the maintenance staff of the Tower Bridge forgot to warn the driver of the city bus about the wings of the structure. The driver realized this when he had already entered the bridge and saw the span rising. He made an extraordinarily bold decision to gain as much speed as possible and jump to the other side. This desperate maneuver was successful, thanks to which all the passengers survived. For courage, the city council even gave the driver a small cash bonus.

An interesting story also happened in 1997, when the motorcade of the then US President Bill Clinton followed the motorcade of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The latter successfully crossed the Tower Bridge, but Clinton's cars were forced to linger due to the breeding that had begun. It was not possible to urgently bring the bridge to avoid diplomatic inconsistencies, since river transport has priority over land transport at the legislative level. Therefore, the head of the United States had to wait until the ship completely passed under the bridge.

Few people know that the towers are not just a decoration of the bridge - they are powerful steel supports lined with stone to protect against corrosion and the influence of the external environment.

Inside the towers, there are 2 elevators - one for the ascent, one for the descent. Each of them is able to take up to 30 people at a time.

Any vessel with a height of 9 to 42 meters can apply for the bridge. This can be done a day before the expected passage. At the same time, the owner of the ship does not need to pay for this operation - such events are financed by the city's charitable organization.

Tower Bridge is often confused with London Bridge, located upstream of the Thames. In London, there is even a very popular legend about how in 1968 the American businessman Robert McCulloch bought the old London Bridge destined for demolition, thinking that he was acquiring the Tower Bridge. The bridge was dismantled and transported to the United States, and stone blocks were installed as cladding in the reinforced concrete supporting structure of the bridge, installed near the canal near Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

Information for tourists

The bridge is located at Tower Bridge Exhibition, Tower Bridge Road, London SE1 2UP, UK. You can get here by metro - London Bridge or Tower Hill stations, city buses No. 15 and 42, as well as by taxi.

You can visit the galleries of the Tower Bridge from April to September from 10.00-18.00 (admission until 17.30), from October to March 9.30-17.30 (admission until 17.00), on January 1, the museum opens at 12.00, closed on December 24-26.

Tower Bridge is one of the most impressive in the world. Architect Horace Jones designed a powerful structure: two towers 64 meters high are connected by galleries; below them are two adjustable wings; side spans - hanging. The towers look ancient, but are actually giant steel frames clad in Portland stone and Cornish granite. This gothic silhouette has become one of the symbols of London, but in 1894, when the bridge was built, it was called tasteless, pretentious, absurd and simply monstrous. (Perhaps, the colors of metal parts seem strange to some now - blue, blue, white and red; this is how the bridge was painted in 1977, for the silver jubilee of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.)

A bit of history

Crossing the Thames at this point became an urgent necessity in the 19th century. The bridge was made movable in order to pass merchant ships, suitable for unloading directly to the city piers. Pedestrians could cross at any moment - through the upper galleries, but people did not want to go up and preferred to wait until the bridge was brought down. The galleries quickly became a haven for prostitutes and pickpockets and were eventually closed. Now there, at the top, from where a stunning view of London opens up, there is an exhibition telling about the history of the bridge.

One of the most famous episodes in its history occurred in 1968, when RAF Lieutenant Alan Pollock flew under the galleries of the bridge in a Hawker Hunter fighter - in honor of the 50th anniversary of the RAF and in protest against government policies. Immediately after this, Pollock was arrested and then fired.

Another famous case is the bus jump. In 1952, the watchman failed to give a warning signal before the bridge was opened, and the driver of the double-decker city bus route 78, Albert Gunton, suddenly saw that the span he was traveling on began to rise. The instant decision that Gunton made - to accelerate and jump onto another, still motionless, span, saved the lives of 20 passengers. 12 people received minor injuries. Ganton was awarded a cash prize of £10.

Drawbridge

The Tower Bridge is still raised differently than, for example, the bridges in St. Petersburg - not at night for several hours, but at any time, for the time required for the passage of the vessel (usually no more than ten minutes: thousand-ton wings can be raised in ninety seconds). Any vessel with a height of more than 9 meters can apply for clearing a day before the required time. There are about a thousand such applications a year, and it is not the shipowner who pays for the wiring, but the Bridge House Estates charitable foundation. Tourists love to photograph the divorced spans; Londoners, on the other hand, sometimes get angry at delays, but they are used to them.

But US President Bill Clinton once did not have time to cross the Tower Bridge on time: in 1997, raised spans separated his motorcade from the motorcade of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Calls from Scotland Yard with a demand to urgently bring the bridge did not give anything - by law, river transport has priority over road transport, and the president had to wait.

On a note

• Location: Tower Bridge Road, London.
• Nearest metro station: "Tower Hill"
• Official website: http://www.towerbridge.org.uk
• Opening Hours: Passage on the bridge is allowed at any time when the bridge is not raised. The museum on the upper floor-gallery of the bridge is open in April-September 10.00-18.00 (entry until 17.30), in October-March 9.30-17.30 (entry until 17.00), on January 1, the museum opens at 12.00, closed on December 24-26.
• Tickets: The passage on the bridge is free. Museum ticket prices: for adults - £8, for persons over 60 years old and students - £5.6, for children 5-15 years old - £3.4, family tickets - £12.5-20, children under 5 years old, disabled people and persons accompanying them - free of charge.

One of London's most recognizable landmarks is Tower Bridge, built in 1894 by order of the Prince of Wales, later known as Edward VII.

For quite a long time, London Bridge (London) remained the only bridge across the Thames, but the development of London as the capital of the kingdom contributed to the emergence of several more bridges. However, they were all built to the west.

In 1876, the City authorities decided that a bridge should be built in the eastern part of the city due to the rapid population growth in the area. But first, a number of problems had to be solved:

• The Thames is a navigable river, and it was necessary to prepare a design for a bridge that would not interfere with the passage of ships.
• The bridge was supposed to be located in the historical part of the city, so it had to fit into its appearance, and not destroy it.

For this, a competition for the best project was opened, in which the most eminent architects and engineers took part. The organizers received over fifty works (These projects are now available for review in the Tower Bridge exhibition hall).

Construction of Tower Bridge

The best project was recognized as a bridge designed in neo-Gothic style and equipped with adjustable elements. Its authors were architect G. Jones and engineer J. V. Barry. Construction began in 1886 and lasted 8 years. To erect such a large-scale and beautiful structure (its length is 244 meters, and the central span, 61 meters long, is divided in two), five contractors were involved, and 432 people worked on the construction.

Multi-ton concrete piers serve as the foundation of the Tower Bridge, on which two steel towers are installed, 65 meters high. In the 19th century, they actively served as a haven for whores and thieves, until they were finally sealed in 1910. The towers are now part of the Tower Bridge Experience exhibition, opened in 1982. Inside, there are stairs leading to the top of the bridge, which offers a stunning view of London. The towers also serve as a "holder" for suspension bridges 82 meters long.

Tower Bridge at the time of its construction was recognized as the most complex drawbridge, equipped with a hydraulic steam engine to drive giant pumps. But at the same time, its design made it possible to raise multi-ton bridge elements to 86 ° in just 5 minutes.

Tower Bridge is still raised by hydraulic motors, but since 1976 the pumps have been powered by electricity instead of steam. Old hydraulic steam pumps and boilers have replenished the number of exhibits.

Some facts from the history of the Tower Bridge

• As a basis for the construction of the bridge, a pedestrian tunnel under the Thames was used, which served as a passage for telecommunication cables.
• Unlike most movable bridges, the Tower Bridge is bred according to a special schedule compiled by the bridge staff for the passage of large vessels. It is not subject to adjustment even for the passage of VIPs.
  There are two known events associated with this feature of the bridge:
  • In 1952, a red London double decker was on the bridge at the time of its breeding. The driver accelerated and was able to jump from one edge to the other of the resulting one-meter gap.
  • In 1997, American President Ball Clinton's motorcade was split in two by the Tower Bridge. Then a lot of people wrote about it.

• In 1968, at the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Royal Air Force, a fighter jet flew between the towers of the bridge.
• Also that year, a Missouri businessman purchased London Bridge, which was about to be demolished, confusing it with Tower Bridge.
• In 1977, in honor of the celebration of the silver jubilee of the reign of Elizabeth II, it was painted blue, white and red.
• Previously, Tower Bridge was bred fifty times a day, now it happens many times less.

Exhibition "Tower Bridge Experience"

Your visit to the Tower Bridge Experience begins with a short film about the history of the Tower Bridge. Next, visitors are allowed to climb the pedestrian gallery, which offers stunning views of London.

The exhibition features many exhibits from the history of the bridge, including the Victorian engine room, glass and oriental walkways.

One of the symbols of Great Britain. It holds a special place in the history of the English nation and is one of the most visited places in the world. This harsh fortress has been the residence of kings, an armory and a treasury, as well as a prison and a place of execution for nine hundred years of history.

The well-known ravens of the Tower, yeoman guards, royal jewels and stories about a gloomy prison-fortress - these are just the very first associations that arise when naming the Tower of London. However, this is only a very small part of the history of this famous building.

Tower of London, symbol of Britain

In 1066, at the Battle of Hastings, Duke William of Normandy broke the resistance of the Anglo-Saxons and carried out the conquest of England. With the accession of the Norman dynasty, London becomes the dominant city in England, having a rich port, located near the royal palace and the main cathedral.

Ensuring the safety of the city became the main goal of William the Conqueror, who sought to strengthen his power on the English throne. He gives the order to start building a fortress around the city. So in 1100 the construction of the White Tower ends.

The first prisoner was imprisoned in the Tower in 1100. At that time, the Tower Prison was intended for people of noble birth and high rank. Among the most honorable and high-ranking prisoners of the Tower were the kings of Scotland and France and members of their families.

Also, representatives of the aristocracy and priests who fell into disgrace on charges of treason fell into the dungeons. The walls of the Tower also remember many executions and murders: Henry VI was killed in the Tower, as well as 12-year-old Edward V and his younger brother.

The prisoners were kept in those premises that were not occupied at that time. The terms of the conclusions were very different. So, William Penn, the founder of the English colony in North America, called Pennsylvania, was imprisoned in the Tower for religious beliefs and spent eight months in the Tower. Charles, Duke of Orleans, nephew of the French king and an outstanding poet, after the defeat in the battle, spent a total of 25 years in the walls of the castle, until an incredible ransom was paid for him.

Courtier Walter Raleigh, a navigator, poet and playwright, tried to brighten up 13 dreary years of imprisonment by working on the multi-volume work History of the World. After his temporary release, he was again imprisoned in the Tower and then executed.

The Tower gained its reputation as a sinister place of torture during the Reformation. Henry VIII, obsessed with the desire to have a son-heir, severed all relations with the Roman Catholic Church and began to persecute anyone who refused to recognize him as the head of the Church of England.

After Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn, failed to bear him a son, the king accused her of betrayal and adultery. As a result, Anna, her brother and four other persons were beheaded in the Tower. The same fate befell Catherine Howard, Henry's fifth wife. Many of the royal family, who posed a threat to the English throne, were escorted to the Tower and then executed.

The young son of Henry, the Protestant Edward VI, who ascended the throne, continued the series of cruel executions begun by his father. When Edward died six years later, the English crown went to Henry's daughter, Mary, a devout Catholic. Wasting no time, the new queen ordered the beheading of 16-year-old Lady Jane Gray and her young husband, who turned out to be pawns in a bitter struggle for power.

Now it is time for the Protestants to lay down their heads. Elizabeth, Mary's half-sister, spent several anxious weeks within the walls of the Tower. However, when she became queen, she dealt with those who refused to change the Catholic faith and dared to oppose her rule.

Although thousands of prisoners were thrown into the Tower, only five women and two men were beheaded on the territory of the fortress, which saved them from the shame of public execution. Three of these women were queens - Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Jane Grey, who only lasted nine days on the throne. Most of the other executions - mostly beheadings - took place on the nearby Tower Hill, where huge crowds of fans of such spectacles flocked.

The severed head was put on a stake and put on public display on London Bridge as a warning to others. The headless body was taken to the Tower and buried in the cellars of the chapel. In total, more than 1,500 bodies were buried in these cellars.

In some cases, usually only with official permission, prisoners were tortured into confessing their guilt. In 1605, Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and the King during the Gunpowder Plot, was hung on the tower rack before his execution, which forced him to name his accomplices.

In the 17th century, England and the Tower for some time fell into the hands of Oliver Cromwell and the Parliamentarians, but after Charles II was again elevated to the throne, the Tower prison was not particularly replenished. In 1747, the last beheading took place on Tower Hill. However, the history of the Tower as a state prison did not end there. During World War I, 11 German spies were imprisoned and shot in the Tower.

During the Second World War, prisoners of war were temporarily kept there, among whom Rudolf Hess also spent several days. The last victim executed within the walls of the fortress was Josef Jacobs, accused of espionage and shot in August 1941.

At the beginning of the 13th century, John the Landless kept lions in the Tower. However, the royal menagerie came about when John's successor Henry III received three leopards, a polar bear and an elephant as a gift from European monarchs. Although the animals were kept for the amusement of the king and his retinue, one day all of London witnessed a unique spectacle when a bear on a leash rushed into the Thames to catch a fish.

Over time, the menagerie was replenished with an even greater number of exotic animals, and during the time of Elizabeth I it was open to visitors. In the 1830s, the Tower Zoo was abolished, and the animals were moved to a new zoo that opened in London's Regent's Park.

For more than 500 years, the Tower housed the main branch of the royal mint. One of its most tumultuous periods came under the reign of Henry VIII, when coins were minted from silver requisitioned from ruined monasteries.

In addition, important state and legal records were kept in the Tower, and weapons and military equipment of the king and the royal army were also manufactured and stored.

From the very foundation of the Tower, its prisoners and buildings were carefully guarded. But specially selected palace guards appeared in 1485. In those days, prisoners were often brought along the river and entered the Tower through the “Traitors' Gate”.

When the accused was being led from the trial, the observers watched where the prison guard's ax was pointed. The blade aimed at the prisoner foreshadowed another execution.

Palace guards guard the Tower to this day. Today, their duties also include conducting tours for numerous visitors. On especially solemn occasions, they dress in luxurious costumes from the Tudor dynasty: scarlet camisoles trimmed with gold and topped with snow-white pleated collars.

On ordinary days, they are dressed in dark blue Victorian uniforms with red trim. English guards are often called beefeaters, or meat-eaters. This nickname most likely originated during times of famine, when Londoners were malnourished and the palace guards received regular beef rations. By this, the English crown provided itself with reliable protection.

Keepers of the royal treasury guard the famous jewels of the British Empire. The treasury has been open to visitors since the 17th century. Among the gems that adorn crowns, orbs and scepters - which are still used by members of the royal family during solemn ceremonies - you can see the world's largest high-quality faceted diamond, Cullinan I.

The current Tower bears little resemblance to the formidable fortress that it went down in history. Back in 1843, the moat was filled up, and instead of water, a bright green lawn appeared here, shading the gray stone of the walls. During numerous restorations, windows were enlarged, including those in the White Tower.

A large number of trees have been planted. In the past, such a harsh and literally blood-stained courtyard was largely sown with grass, and black tower ravens roamed importantly around it. When the menagerie was moved to Regent's Park in 1831, the ravens were left in the fort. They are surrounded by special care - the state pays the garrison of the Tower two shillings fourpence a week to feed the birds. The palace “ravenmaster”, or Ravenmaster, takes care of a flock of black crows. The fact is that, according to legend, the foundations of Britain are unshakable until the ravens leave the Tower. For greater security, however, the wings of the birds are clipped.

Today the Tower of London is one of the main UK attractions, entered in . The symbol of the ominous past of the Tower is the place where the scaffold of Tower Hill used to be. Now a small memorial plaque has been installed there in memory of “the tragic fate and sometimes martyrdom of those who, in the name of faith, homeland and ideals, risked their lives and accepted death.”

At present, the main buildings of the Tower are a museum and an armory, where the treasures of the British crown are kept; officially continues to be considered one of the royal residences. The Tower also has a number of private apartments, which are mainly inhabited by service personnel and distinguished guests.

At the end of the XIX century. the panorama of London was enriched by the building, which was destined to become one of the architectural symbols of the British capital - along with the ancient Tower Castle, and, and. it Tower Bridge (Tower Bridge) - one of the most famous and beautiful bridges in the world.

Built in the spirit of medieval buildings, with Gothic towers and heavy chains of bridge structures, it forms a single ensemble with the ancient Tower Castle.

Tower Bridge embodied all the features of the Victorian era. The need for its construction arose in the middle of the 19th century, when the population of east London, where the port and numerous warehouses are located, began to grow rapidly. Until 1750, the banks of the Thames were connected by only one London bridge, founded in Roman times. As the British capital grew, new bridges were built, but they were all located in the western part of the city.

With increased traffic, residents of east London had to spend many hours trying to get across to the opposite bank. Every year the problem became more acute, and finally in 1876 the city authorities decided to build a new bridge in east London.

It was required, however, to erect it in such a way that the bridge structures did not interfere with the movement of ships along the Thames. On this occasion, many ideas were put forward, for the consideration of which a special committee was formed. In the end, the committee decided to announce an open competition for the best design for the bridge.

More than 50 projects took part in the competition (some of them can be found today in the Tower Bridge Museum). It took a long time to study them. Only in October 1884 did the committee decide on its choice: the city architect Horace Jones, who developed his project in collaboration with engineer John Wolf Barry, became the winner.

It took 8 years, £1,600,000 and the tireless work of 432 workers to make this project a reality.

The construction of Tower Bridge began in 1886. After Jones' death in 1887, J. Barry, having received wider artistic freedom, changed a number of details of the project, which, however, only won the bridge. Its construction was completed in 1894.

Tower Bridge fully corresponded to the technical level of that time. It became the largest and most complex drawbridge in the world. Two of its massive pillars go deep into the river bed, more than 11 thousand tons of steel went into the creation of structures of towers and spans. Outside, the steelwork is clad in Cornish with cue granite and Portland stone. Two impressive neo-Gothic towers on granite bases, decorated with decorative masonry, rise above the Thames to a height of 63 m each. It is believed that it was these towers that gave the name to the bridge (English, the Tower - tower, Towerbridge - Tower Bridge). According to another version, the name of the bridge comes from the nearby ancient London castle Tower.

Each tower has two elevators - one for the ascent, the other for the descent, but in order to climb to the top, you can also use the stairs of 300 steps arranged in each of the towers.

The bridge is 850 m long, 40 m high and 60 m wide. The bridge parts adjacent to the banks are motionless. Their width at the confluence with the shore reaches 80 m. The central span, 65 m long, has two floors. The lower tier is located at a height of 9 m from the water, and during the passage of large vessels, it is parted. Previously, it was raised up to 50 times a day, but at present the bridge is raised only 4-5 times a week. The upper tier is located at a height of 35 m from the lower tier, and pedestrians use it when the communication on the lower tier is interrupted.

Pedestrians climb up either by spiral staircases inside the towers (each staircase has 90 steps), or by an elevator, which simultaneously takes 30 people. This method is associated with some inconvenience, so that the Londoners very quickly abandoned it. In 1910, the span of the upper tier even had to be closed: instead of using it during the passage of ships, the public preferred to wait for the ship to pass and the lower tier of the bridge to lower.

The bridge is controlled like a ship: it has its own captain and a team of sailors who beat off the "bottles" and stand on watch, like on a military ship. Initially, hydraulic lifts were powered by a steam engine. She controlled the huge pumping engines that raised and lowered the drawbridge doors. Despite the complexity of the system, it took just over a minute for the bridge wings to reach their maximum elevation angle of 86 degrees.

The Victorian-era steam-lifting bridge functioned well until 1976. Currently, the wings of the bridge are raised and lowered using electricity, and the bridge itself has become a kind of functioning museum. Antique pump engines, accumulators and steam boilers are part of its display. Museum visitors can also get acquainted with the modern mechanisms that control the bridge.

In the history of the Tower Bridge, there are several tragicomic cases when people had to indulge in the most incredible stunts in order to avoid an accident. In 1912, pilot Frank McClean, dodging a collision, was forced to fly his biplane between two tiers of bridge spans.

And in 1952, the driver of the bus, which was on the bridge at the moment when the wings began to diverge, hit the gases so as not to fall into the river, and the bus with passengers made a dizzying jump from one diverging bridge leaf to another ...

The original metalwork of the Tower Bridge was painted chocolate brown. But in 1977, when the silver jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II was celebrated, the bridge was painted in the colors of the national flag - red, white and blue.

In 1982, the towers and the reconstructed upper deck of the bridge reopened to the public, this time as a museum. An impressive panorama of the British capital opens from here. In order for museum visitors to take pictures of the views of London, special windows are arranged in the glazing of the upper tier of the bridge. And the mechanisms inside the towers are a real exhibition of Victorian era technology.

Some believe that the Tower Bridge is somewhat overpowering with its massiveness. But it has already firmly entered the London landscape and, together with the Tower, has become one of the city's most popular attractions.