Big Ben's birth and name (lecture niveau avancé et activité histoire des arts)
Big Ben is probably the most popular tourist attraction in London. In 1987, Big Ben entered the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In 2009, it celebrated its 150th birthday.
THE CLOCK TOWER
"Big Ben" is the nickname of the famous tower near the River Thames. In the 19th century, MPs worked in a room called St Stephen's Hall, so Victorian journalists called it St Stephen's Tower. But its real name is simply the Clock Tower! It is part of the British Parliament, also called the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace because it was the monarch's residence in the Middle Ages.
THE NAME OF A BELL
On the biggest bell, you can read the name "Sir Benjamin Hall." He was an MP and an engineer. He was in charge of London's public works after the fire of the Parliament in 1834. He had the idea of a different type of architecture for the reconstruction of the Parliament, with a clock tower which became Big Ben. His name is a possible origin of the name "Big Ben" - Ben is shorter for Benjamin - "elementary, my dear Watson."
THE PARLIAMENT ON FIRE
In 1834, a disastrous fire broke at the Palace and destroyed greatly the building. So the architect Charles Barry rebuilt it in the perpendicular style, not in the neo-classical fashion of the time (like the White House or the Capitol in Washington D.C., the American capital city). Perpendicular style represented conservative values whereas neo-classical style was a symbol of revolution.
In 1835, William Turner, a very famous English painter, painted the fire in a revolutionary style (no precise object except for Westminster Bridge). In this painting, everything is lost in the energy of light and fire, a force of nature. There is no human control, the fire is consuming the Parliament, a symbol of power.
Just after the fire, the architect had the idea of a clock tower - Big Ben was born.
