Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 10/07/2026 23:13:00

Officially renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, this 96-metre clock tower at the north end of the Palace of Westminster has anchored the London skyline and served as a global symbol of British parliamentary democracy since its completion in 1859. The name Big Ben strictly refers only to the largest of the five bells inside, though popular usage has long applied it to the entire structure. Architect Augustus Pugin designed the tower's Gothic Revival exterior as part of Charles Barry's rebuilding of the Palace after the fire of 1834. The clock mechanism, engineered by Edmund Beckett Denison, was innovative for its double three-legged gravity escapement, which insulates the timekeeping from wind pressure on the hands. Four clock faces, each seven metres in diameter, are set into iron frames with 312 pieces of opal glass. The minute hands are 4.2 metres long and made of hollow copper to reduce weight. The Great Bell itself weighs 13.7 tonnes and was cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1858 after a first attempt cracked during testing. It cracked again in 1859, and the resulting flaw gives Big Ben its distinctive tone. The bell was rotated so that the hammer strikes an undamaged section, and it has continued in service ever since. The hour strike has been broadcast live by the BBC since 1924. A five-year restoration programme that began in 2017 and concluded in early 2022 cleaned and repaired every element from the cast-iron roof tiles to the stone cladding, revealing the original Prussian blue and gold colour scheme of the clock dials. The tower is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site encompassing the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey. Public tours of 334 steps lead to the belfry, available to UK residents by arrangement through their Member of Parliament.