When was the Tower Bridge built? Construction across the Thames: historical background

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 main places of pilgrimage for tourists is the Tower of London, which stands by the river on the eastern border of the ancient city fortifications. Despite all the publicity gimmicks and buzzwords, it remains one of the most remarkable buildings in London and the site of some glorious events that all tourists and Londoners should visit at least once.

Known mainly as a place of imprisonment and execution, the Tower managed to be a royal residence, an arsenal, a mint, a menagerie, an observatory and a repository of royal regalia - a function that it still performs today.

To orient yourself before exploring the Tower on your own, you should take part in one of the free tours, which are held about once every half an hour by one of the beefeaters (guardians of the Tower of London). Today, visitors enter the Tower along Water Lane, but in the old days, most prisoners got there through Traitors' Gate, overlooking the waterfront.

Nearby is the Bloody Tower - the main entrance to the prison cells. Here in 1483, "for their own safety," 12-year-old Edward V and his 10-year-old brother were imprisoned on the orders of their uncle, who later became King Richard III. It was here that Walter Reilly was imprisoned three times.

The original "Tower" was the White Tower, which is located in the center of the Inner Prison. Its construction began in 1076. Now there are exhibitions from the collection of the Royal Arsenal (Royal Armories). Even if you are not at all interested in military affairs, be sure to visit the chapel of St. John - a beautiful Norman building on the third floor, which was completed in 1080.

This is the oldest surviving original church building in. To the west of the White Tower is Tower Green, a lawn where high-profile individuals were executed, including Anne Boleyn and her cousin Catherine Howard (Henry VIII's second and fifth wives).

Waterloo Barracks, north of the White Tower, houses the Crown Jewels, for which crowds of people flock here. However, unfortunately, the inspection passes very quickly, especially during peak hours, when, moving in line, people see the exhibits for only 28 seconds.

The oldest of the regalia is the 12th-century Anointing Spoon, but most of the items are from the later Commonwealth era (1649-1660), when many of the royal treasures were melted down into coins or sold. Among the jewels are three of the largest cut diamonds, including the legendary Kohinoor, placed in the crown of the British Empire in 1937, when Queen Victoria was crowned.

Tower Bridge competes with Big Ben for the title of the most famous. Built in 1894, its Neo-Gothic piers are clad in Cornish granite and Portland stone and have a steel frame, which at the time represented a significant technical achievement. This allows the bridge to be raised for the passage of large ships on the River Thames.

The opening of the bridge is an impressive sight. Find out in advance the actual time of the bridge. After paying the entrance fee, you need to use the elevator to go up the elevated walkways that link the tops of the towers.

The tracks were closed from 1909 to 1982 due to the fact that they were chosen by girls of easy virtue and suicides. On the south side of the bridge you will see a steam-powered hoist (now electrified). You can see the giant boiler boilers, which are now out of action.

Tower Bridge construction

Tower Bridge in London was designed by the famous architect Horace Johnson, which is a 244-meter drawbridge with two towers standing on intermediate supports 65 meters high. The central span between the towers, which is 61 meters long, is divided into two lifting wings, designed to allow ships to pass, they can rise up to an angle of 83 °.

Each of the wings weighs about two thousand tons and is equipped with a counterweight that minimizes the necessary effort required to raise the bridge in a minute. Initially, the span was propelled by a water hydraulic system, with an operating pressure of 50 bar. Water was accumulated by two steam plants with a total capacity of 360 hp. The system was created by W. G. Armstrong Mitchell.

In 1974, the water hydraulic system was replaced with an electrically driven oil system. For the convenience of pedestrians, the design of the bridge provided for the possibility of crossing it even during the process of opening the span.

For this purpose, in addition to standard sidewalks located along the edges of the carriageway, pedestrian galleries were designed and introduced in the middle part, which connect the towers at a height of 44 meters. To get to the galleries was possible with the help of stairs located inside the towers themselves.

Since 1982, the galleries have been used exclusively as an observation deck and museum. It should be noted that the construction of pedestrian galleries and towers required more than 11,000 tons of steel. To better protect metal structures from corrosion, the towers of the Tower Bridge were lined with stone. The architectural style of the constructed buildings is defined as Gothic. The total cost of the structure built is £1,184,000.

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In London - one of the most recognizable in the world. The roots of its Victorian Gothic style lie in the law that forced the developers to create a structure that harmonizes with the nearby Tower.

Description

Tower Bridge is both drawbridge and suspension. It crosses the River Thames, is located not far from which it is named, and has become a symbol of the city.

The bridge consists of two towers connected by two horizontal walkways designed to balance the horizontal forces exerted by the suspension parts on the ground sides. The vertical part of the forces in the suspended sections and the vertical reactions of the two transitions are borne by two massive towers. Lifting axles and working equipment are located in the bases of the towers. The bridge's current color scheme dates from 1977, when it was painted red, white and blue to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. It was originally blue and green.

The nearest London Underground station is Tower Hill on the Circle and District lines, and the nearest LRT station is Tower Gateway.

Contrary to popular belief, the song "London Bridge Is Falling Down" has nothing to do with Tower Bridge in London.

History of the building

Plans were drawn up around 1876 when East London became densely populated. The bridge over the Thames in this area seemed very important. The main problem was that it was necessary to let ships with high masts pass to the port facilities between the bridge and the Tower. It took another eight years and many design discussions before construction began.

So, to solve the problem of crossing the river in 1877, a Special Committee of Bridges and Tunnels was formed under the leadership of Sir Albert Joseph Altman, and a public competition for projects was announced. Over 50 applications were submitted, including by civil engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette. The appraisal of the designs was surrounded by controversy, and it was not until 1884 that a design presented by city architect Horace Jones in collaboration with John Wolfe Barry was approved.

The bridge was completed in 1894. Five contractors - Sir John Jackson (foundation), Baron Armstrong (hydraulics), William Webster, Sir H.H. Barlet and Sir William Eroll, as well as nearly 450 workers, were involved in the construction of the bridge. It took 11,000 tons of steel to build the arches. At the time, many people did not like its Victorian Gothic design, but over time the bridge has become one of London's most famous symbols. It was officially opened on June 30, 1894 by the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII) and his wife, the Princess of Wales (Alexandra of Denmark).

The bridge connected Iron Gate on the north bank of the river with Horsleydown Lane on the south, now known as Tower Bridge Approach and Tower Bridge Road respectively. Prior to the opening of the Tower Bridge, the subway - 400 meters to the west - was the shortest way to cross the river from Tower Hill to Tooley Street in Southpark. Opened in 1870, the Tower Subway was one of the world's earliest subway lines.

When Tower Bridge in London opened, much of the foot traffic moved to it due to the lack of usage fees. The tunnel was closed in 1898 due to low profitability.

Tower Bridge in London is one of five London bridges now owned and maintained by Bridge House Estates, a non-profit partnership overseen by the City of London Corporation. This is the only partnership bridge that does not link the City of London to the Southpark shore; its northern exit leads to Tower Hamlets.

Mechanics

The proximity of the bay and the location in the direction of the sea required the bridge to be able to pass large ships. Hence the decision to create a movable structure that can be opened to allow the movement of boats. The mechanism is hidden in two towers. Until 1976, when it was electrified, steam power was used to pump water into hydraulic accumulators that powered the engines.

The entire bridge is 800 feet (244 m) long and the towers built on piles are 213 feet (65 m) high. The central span, 200 feet (61 m) long, is divided into two equal slabs. Each of them is more than 30 meters wide and weighs 1000 tons and can open at an angle of 83 degrees. In the open position, the bridge has a rise of almost 45 m. Today it rises to the height necessary for the passage of a particular vessel; the exception is the passage of the ship carrying the monarch. In this case, parts of the structure rise completely. Previously, the bridge was opened almost fifty times a day, but today it is only 1,000 times a year. The drawdowns are planned in advance (for cruise ships, etc.) so guests can go to the bridge site and see when it will be raised and lowered. There is no lift fee.

Reaction

Although the bridge is undoubtedly a landmark, professional critics in the early 20th century were skeptical of its appearance. “He represents the vice of bad taste and pretentiousness, falsification of the real facts of the structure,” wrote H.Kh. Statham, and Frank Brangwyn argued that "a more absurd structure than the Tower Bridge was never thrown across a strategic river."

Bridge visit

Numerous tourists are constantly photographed against the backdrop of this grandiose structure. You can also go inside the bridge, from where you will have a magnificent view of London from the transition between the two towers. At one time they earned an unpleasant reputation as a shelter for prostitutes and pickpockets. Accessible only by stairs, they were rarely used by ordinary pedestrians and were closed in 1910. The re-opening took place in 1982 during the Tower Bridge Exhibition, a display housed in the bridge's towers, walkways and Victorian engine rooms. Here you can also see the Tower Bridge from the inside, photos, films telling about the history of the amazing structure. Of particular interest are real steam engines. There is a fee to enter the exhibition.

2008-2012

In April 2008, it was announced that the Tower Bridge would undergo a £4m facelift. The job consisted of stripping the old paint down to bare metal and repainting it blue and white. Each section was surrounded by scaffolding and protective plastic to prevent old paint from falling into the Thames and polluting the river. Beginning in mid-2008, contractors worked on a maximum of a quarter of the bridge at a time to avoid problems, but sometimes road closures were unavoidable.

The painting process was completed in 2009. Work was also carried out to replace the lighting system of the bridge. A multi-purpose lighting system designed by Eleni Shiarlis is installed inside the crossings, as they are used for exhibitions and other purposes. All elements are installed in a modern way without the help of drilling. With the help of illumination, the bridge acquired a stunning view at night.

The upgrade of the four suspension chains was completed in March 2010 using the latest paint system requiring up to six different coats.

In the article you can see the modified Tower Bridge, the photo of which shows the structure in all its splendor.

There is a legend that the American businessman Robert McCulloch almost bought the bridge in 1968 to transfer it to this fact, however, he denies it.

In May 1997, the presidential cortege was divided as a result of the opening of the bridge.

At the end of the XIX century. The panorama of London was enriched by a building that was destined to become one of the architectural symbols of the British capital - along with the ancient Tower of London, the Palace of Westminster, Big Ben and St. Paul's Cathedral. This is the 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 winner was city architect Horace Jones, who developed his design in collaboration with engineer John Wolf Barry. 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). A friend of the 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 steam-powered bridge-lifting mechanism of the Victorian era served well until 1976. Currently, the wings of the bridge are raised and lowered with the help of 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 divergent 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.

December 10th, 2013

Even those who have never been to England will recognize him immediately. Every year it is visited by thousands of tourists. Londoners pass through it every day, most likely without even thinking about its history at that moment. This is Tower Bridge- one of the symbols of London.

The history of the Tower Bridge, which should not be confused with the neighboring London Bridge, is connected with the nearby Tower of London. In 1872, the English Parliament considered a bill to build a bridge across the Thames. Although the commandant of the Tower was against the idea, Parliament decided that the city needed another bridge that would effectively harmonize with the architecture of the Tower of London. Tower Bridge, as it is today, owes its appearance to the decision of Parliament.

Photo 1.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, many bridges crossed the Thames. The most famous of them is London Bridge. By 1750, it became very shaky, and traffic jams constantly formed on the bridge. Vessels from all over the world gathered near the bridge, waiting for a place in the crowded harbor.

At that time, the Thames was literally filled with various ships, so that it was possible to walk several kilometers along the decks of ships standing at the berths.

In February 1876, the London authorities announced an open competition for the design of a new bridge. According to the requirements, the bridge must be high enough to allow massive merchant ships to pass under it, as well as to ensure the continuous movement of people and wagons. About 50 interesting projects were sent to the competition!

Most of the contestants proposed options for high bridges with fixed spans. But they had two common drawbacks: the distance above the surface of the water at high tide was insufficient for the passage of vessels with high masts, and the rise to the bridge was too steep for horses pulling wagons. One of the architects proposed a bridge project in which people and wagons climbed a high bridge with the help of hydraulic elevators, the other - a bridge with ring parts and sliding decks.

However, the swing bridge by Sir Horace Jones, the chief architect of the city, was recognized as the most realistic project. Despite all the advantages of the project, the decision to choose it was delayed, and then Jones, in collaboration with the famous engineer John Wolf Barry, developed another innovative bridge, eliminating all the shortcomings of the first in the new project. Barry, in particular, suggested to Jones that the upper walkways be made, which were not included in the original design.

At the request of the municipality, city architect Horace Jones designed a Gothic drawbridge to be built downstream of London. Under such a bridge, ships heading to the docks up the Thames could pass freely. The bridge project had one feature that many considered an original solution.

Horace Jones traveled widely. When he was in the Netherlands, small drawbridges spanning canals inspired him to create a counterweighted drawbridge. Jones and his assistants designed such a bridge and decided to use unusual construction methods, combining steel structures with masonry. This is how the world-famous appearance of the Tower Bridge arose.

After three weeks of heated discussion, the Jones-Barry project was approved. A huge amount of £585,000 was allocated for the creation of a grandiose structure. The developers of the bridge suddenly became very rich people - their fee amounted to £30,000. In 1886, construction began, but in May 1887, even before the foundation was completed, Jones suddenly died, and all responsibility fell on engineer Barry. The latter invited the talented architect George Stevenson as his assistant, thanks to whom the bridge underwent a number of stylistic changes.

Stevenson was an admirer of Victorian Gothic architecture and expressed his passion for the design of the bridge. He also decided to put the steel trusses of the bridge on display: the new structural material - steel - was in vogue at that time, and it was in the spirit of the times.

Tower Bridge decorated with two towers, which are connected by two pedestrian crossings, raised to a height of 34 meters above the roadway and 42 meters above the water. Roads from both banks of the Thames lead to the lifting wings of the bridge. These huge canvases weigh approximately 1,200 tons each and open to form an 86-degree angle. Thanks to this, ships with a carrying capacity of up to 10,000 tons can freely pass under the bridge.

Photo 4.

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.

Only for the construction of towers and pedestrian galleries it took more than 11 thousand tons of steel. To better protect the metal structure from corrosion, the towers were faced with stone, the architectural style of the building is defined as Gothic.

Photo 5.

By the way, these sepia-colored photographs, dated 1892, captured the Tower Bridge under construction, one of the main attractions of Great Britain.

For the past five years, the photographs have lain in a suitcase under the bed of a Westminster resident who wished to remain anonymous, who found them in a dumpster during the demolition of one of the buildings. In addition to the photo, he found several account books. The man says that he took the books to the Tower Bridge Museum and tried to tell the employees that he also had photographs, but they did not even want to listen to him, saying that they already had more than enough photographs. The man admits that he simply did not know what to do with the photographs - and therefore put them in a suitcase and put it under the bed.

Photo 6.

So they would have been lying there if one day the owner of an unusual find did not decide to tell his neighbor Peter Berthud, who works as a guide in Westminster, about the photographs. Peter recalls that he could not believe his own eyes when he saw unique photographs. He spent several days studying albums and documents, trying to find out if these photographs were known to specialists - and found that no one even knew they existed!

Tower Bridge is the lowest bridge in the Thames (it is the first to be encountered if you climb it from the North Sea) and the only one of all bridges that is movable.

Photo 7.

The photographs show the steel base of the bridge, the existence of which many do not even know - after all, the outer part of the bridge is lined with stone. The bridge was designed by Horace Jones, who was succeeded by John Wolf-Barry after his death. It was he who insisted that the bridge be lined with stone.

Peter Berthud calls this photo his favorite. “These people had no idea that they were building a monument of architecture,” he says.

Photo 8.

The bridge got its name due to its proximity to the Tower: the northern end of the bridge is located near the southeast corner of the Tower, and a road runs parallel to the eastern wall of the Tower, which is a continuation of the Tower Bridge.

By the time the Tower Bridge was built, movable structures had long been something of a surprise. But the remarkable thing about Tower Bridge was that its raising and lowering was entrusted to complex machinery. And never before had hydraulics been used on such a scale in bridges. In St. Petersburg, for example, at that time the labor of workers was usually used to draw bridges, which was eventually replaced by the work of water turbines powered by the city's water supply.

Photo 9.

The Tower Bridge was powered by steam engines, which rotated the pumps, which created high water pressure in the hydraulic accumulators in the system. Hydraulic motors were “fed” from them, which, when the valves were opened, began to rotate the crankshafts. The latter transmitted torque to the gears, which, in turn, rotated the gear sectors, which ensured the raising and lowering of the wings of the bridge. Looking at how massive the lifting wings were, one would think that the gears had a monstrous load. But this is not so: the wings were equipped with heavy counterweights that helped the hydraulic motors.

There were four steam boilers under the southern end of the bridge. They were fired with coal and produced steam with a pressure of 5-6 kg / cm2, generating the necessary energy to operate huge pumps. When switched on, these pumps supplied water at a pressure of 60 kg/cm2.

Photo 10.

Since power was always needed to draw the bridge, there was a supply of water under huge pressure in six large accumulators. Water from the accumulators flowed to eight engines that raised and lowered the drawbridge. Various mechanisms set in motion, the axis with a diameter of 50 centimeters began to rotate, and the bridge canvases rose. The bridge was raised in just one minute!

Photo 11.

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Photo 16.

The construction of the Tower Bridge began in 1886 and was completed 8 years later. The grand opening of the new bridge took place on June 30, 1894, by Prince Edward of Wales and his wife, Princess Alexandra.

Photo 17.

Peter Berthhood photographing Tower Bridge at his home in London.

Photo 18.

Today, motors run on electricity. But, as before, when the Tower Bridge is raised, the traffic stops, and pedestrians and tourists watch in fascination as the huge wings of the bridge rise.

A warning signal sounds, the barriers close, the last car leaves the bridge, and the controllers report that the bridge is free. The four connecting bolts are silently extended, and the wings of the bridge soar upwards. Now all eyes are on the river. Whether it is a tugboat, a pleasure boat or a sailboat, everyone watches with interest as the ship passes under the bridge.

Photo 19.

A few minutes later another signal sounds. The bridge closes and the barriers go up. The cyclists quickly take their place in front of the line of waiting cars in order to be the first to race across the bridge. A few more seconds, and the Tower Bridge is again waiting for a signal to let the next ship through.

The most curious are not content with just watching the bridge work. They take the elevator up to the north tower, where the Tower Bridge Museum is located, to learn more about its history and visit an exhibition where an electronic doll introduces visitors to interesting details.

Photo 20.

Photo 21.

On the exhibited paintings, you can see how talented engineers worked on the creation of the bridge, and how the opening ceremony took place. And on the stands and old photographs in brownish tones, the majestic building of the Tower Bridge is captured.

From the height of the pedestrian crossing, visitors have a stunning view of London. If you look to the west, you can see St. Paul's Cathedral and the banking buildings in the City of London, as well as the Telecom Tower towering in the distance.

Photo 22.

Those on the east side who expect to see the docks are in for a disappointment: they have been moved downstream, away from the modern metropolis. Instead, the redeveloped Docklands district appears in front of the eye, striking with its buildings and buildings, made in the Art Nouveau style.

Unusual, breathtaking, stunning - this is exactly the view from this famous bridge, the hallmark of London. If you find yourself in London, why not get to know Tower Bridge better? This masterpiece of architecture will forever leave indelible impressions in your memory.

Photo 23.

Interesting Facts

In 1968, Robert McCulloch, a businessman from Missouri (USA), purchased the old London Bridge destined for demolition. The bridge was dismantled and transported to America.

Stone blocks, which were installed as cladding in the reinforced concrete supporting structure of the bridge, were installed near the canal near the city of Lake Havasu City, Arizona (USA).

Legend has it that McCulloch bought London Bridge, mistaking it for Tower Bridge, one of the main symbols of foggy Albion. McCulloch and one of the city council members of the capital, Ivan Lakin, who oversaw the deal, deny this interpretation of events.

Tower Bridge in London is a real work of art of architects, as well as the greatest landmark of London and the whole of Great Britain, which at least once, but definitely worth seeing live.

Official name: Tower Bridge;

Construction type: Suspension bridge, Drawbridge;

Main flight: 61 m;

Total length: 244 m;

Application area: pedestrian, automobile;

Crosses: Thames;

Opening: 1894;

Location: Tower Bridge Road, London;

Photo 24.

Each of the wings weighs about two thousand tons and is equipped with a counterweight that minimizes the necessary effort required to raise the bridge in a minute.

Initially, the span was propelled by a water hydraulic system, with an operating pressure of 50 bar. Water was accumulated by two steam plants with a total capacity of 360 hp. The system was created by W. G. Armstrong Mitchell.

To better protect metal structures from corrosion, the towers of the Tower Bridge in London were lined with stone. The architectural style of the constructed buildings is defined as Gothic.

Photo 25.

The total cost of the structure built is £1,184,000.

Photo 26.

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Photo 31.

The famous building is of course also used as a backdrop for epic scenes.

Well, if you move away from the topic of bridges, then look The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -

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