DK Travel : London : History & Culture

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Thomas Carlyle

The Scottish historian and essayist Thomas Carlyle, famous for his history of the French Revolution, lived in London from 1834.
Tower Bridge

When the Pool of London was the gateway to the city’s larder, this flamboyant bridge was constantly being raised and lowered for sail and steam ships bringing their cargoes from all corners of the Empire. Pedestrians who needed to cross the river when the bridge was open had to climb up the 300 steps of the towers to the walkway overhead. Today, visitors on the 90-minute Tower Bridge Exhibition tour still have views from the 40-m (135-ft) high walkways. The entrance is beneath the north pier, where a “journey through time” begins. It ends with a hands-on experience in the massive engine room, and exits via a shop on the south bank of the river.
Tower of London
Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square – once the royal mews – is a hub of the West End and a venue for public rallies and events. From the top of a 50-m (165-ft) column, Admiral Lord Nelson, who famously defeated Napoleon’s fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, looks down Whitehall towards the Houses of Parliament. The column is guarded at its base by four huge lions – the work of Edwin Landseer. On the north side of the square is the National Galleryand the church of St-Martin-in-the-Fields while, to the southwest, Admiralty Arch leads to Buckingham Palace.

Admiralty Arch
University College London

Founded in 1836, UCL is the oldest college of London University and owns several fine academic collections. In the Petrie Museum is one of the largest collections of Egyptian archaeology in the world. Etchings, engravings and early English Mezzotints from the college’s art collection are exhibited in the Strang Print Room.Check out performances at the college’s Bloomsbury Theatre in Gordon Street.
Victoria and Albert Museum

A cornucopia of treasures is housed in this enchanting museum named after the devoted royal couple. There are fine and applied arts from all over the world, from ancient China to contemporary Britain. Highlights include extraordinary plaster copies of statues, and monuments and artifacts from the Italian Renaissance. Displays are arranged over six floors of galleries. The stunning new British Galleries display more than 3,000 objects illustrating the best of British art and design since 1500. There are restored period rooms and touchable objects.
Victoria Station

All the main London railway termini were built in Victoria’s reign. This one serves southern England.
Virginia Woolf

Woolf (1882–1941) and her sister Vanessa Bell lived in Gordon Square, where the influential pre-war Bloomsbury Group grew from social gatherings. She developed an impressionistic stream of consciousness in novels such asMrs Dalloway (1925) andTo The Lighthouse (1927).
Wallace Collection

“The finest collection of art ever assembled by one family,” is the claim of the Wallace Collection, and it is hard to disagree. Sir Richard Wallace, who left this collection to the nation in 1897, was not only outrageously rich but a man of great taste. As well as 25 galleries of fine Sèvres porcelain and an unrivalled collection of armour, there are old masters by English, French and Dutch artists, including Frans Hals’TheLaughing Cavalier .
Waterloo Sunset

Pop groups don’t usually celebrate London, or Britain, but this 1967 record by The Kinks was an exception.