Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster, though most people use the name to refer to the entire Elizabeth Tower — the soaring Gothic Revival structure that has anchored London's skyline since 1859. Designed by architect Charles Barry and decorated by Augustus Pugin, the tower is a masterpiece of Victorian ambition, built at a moment when Britain wanted its seat of power to announce itself to the world. It does exactly that. The four clock faces, each nearly seven metres in diameter, were once the largest in the world, and the bong of the Great Bell carries across the Thames with a weight that no recording quite captures.
Monument