Also known as London Victoria. It is a major central London railway terminus, London Underground and coach station in the City of Westminster. It is the second busiest railway terminus in London after Waterloo. The station was opened on 27 March 1858. At the beginning of the twentieth century two parts of the station were rebuilt: the frontage and the service station. The area around the station also became a site for other forms of transportation: a bus station in the yard, a bus terminal to the south, and now, a terminal for trains to Gatwick Airport service. The station had a news cinema later a cartoon cinema that would show a continuous programme for travellers. The cinema was designed by Alastair Macdonald, and was in operation from 1933 until being demolished in 1981. The station was redeveloped internally in the 1980s.
The station is now the busiest on the London Underground system, serving nearly 80 million passengers per year.
In 1536 King Henry VIII confiscated Hyde Park from the monks of Westminster Abbey. It was used primarily for hunting. King Charles I opened the park to the public in 1637. The current park.
The park has become a traditional location for mass demonstrations. The Chartists, the Reform League, the Suffragettes and the Stop The War Coalition have all held protests in the park. Many protestors on the Liberty and Livelihood March in 2002 started their march from Hyde Park. The park was the site of The Great Exhibition of 1851, for which the Crystal Palace was designed by Joseph Paxton.
Hyde Park offers swimming and boating in summer and tennis all year round. Why not try bowls, putting or horse riding. There are also deck chairs and free band concerts in summer and regular guided walks throughout the year.
Kids won’t get bored in the Park.There’s swimming, boating, three playgrounds and facilities for tennis, cycling and skating. In summer, you can cool your feet in Diana Memorial Fountain and enjoy entertainment at the Lido.
Piccadilly Circus is a famous road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster, built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly. In this context a circus, from the Latin word meaning a circle, is a circular open space at a street junction.
It now links directly to the theatres on Shaftesbury Avenue as well as the Haymarket, Coventry Street (onwards to Leicester Square), and Glasshouse Street. The Circus is close to major shopping and entertainment areas in the heart of the West End. Its status as a major traffic-intersection has made Piccadilly Circus a busy meeting place and a tourist attraction in its own right.
History:
The Piccadilly Circus tube station was opened March 10, 1906 on the Bakerloo Line, and on the Piccadilly Line in December of that year. In 1928, the station was extensively rebuilt to handle an increase in traffic.
The Holford plan is referenced in the short-form documentary film "Goodbye, Piccadilly", produced by the Rank Organisation in 1967. Piccadilly Circus has since escaped major redevelopment, apart from extensive ground-level pedestrianisation around its south side in the 1980s.
Location and sights
Piccadilly Circus is surrounded by several major tourist attractions, including the Shaftesbury Memorial, Criterion Theatre, London Pavilion and several major retail stores. Numerous nightclubs and bars are located in the area and neighbouring Soho, including the former Chinawhite club.
Major shops
The former Zavvi (formerly known as Virgin Megastore) flagship store, previously owned by Tower Records was located at Number 1 Piccadilly before it went into administration. Number 1 Piccadilly is empty, the unit is located on the west side between Regent Street and Piccadilly, directly facing Piccadilly Circus. Before being Tower Records this was the location of the Swan and Edgar department store. In June 2009, it was revealed by the current leaseholders of 1 Piccadilly Circus (Standard Life Investments) that the new retail tenant for the place will be The Sting, a fashion department store popular in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. They plan to open in Spring 2010.
· The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture situated in North of London, in Bloomsbury’s neighbourhood. Its collection, which has more than seven million objects, is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originates from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present. We can find everything from prehistoric bones and Parthenon’s shards to exhibition halls like Assyrian palaces and golden jewels.
· The British Museum was founded in 1753, was mainly based on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane and it was the first national public museum in the world. The visitor have never had to pay to get in. Visitor numbers have grown around 5,000 a year in the eighteenth century to nearly 6 million today. · Some objects in the collection, like the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon, are the objects of intense controversy and calls for restitution to their countries of origin. Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, the largest covered square in Europe, surrounding the original Reading Room.
Departments: Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities Department of the Middle East Department of Prints and Drawings Department of Asia Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas Department of Coins and Medals Department of Prehistory and Europe Department of Conservation, Documentation and Science Libraries and Archives
Panorama of the circular Reading Room
Some outstanding collections and pieces
- The Elgin Marbles: An extensive collection of Greek marbles from the Parthenon. The collection represents more than half of the decorative sculptures of the Parthenon.
- The Portland Vase: Is a Roman vase built in the first century, which has been the inspiration for many manufacturers of glass and porcelain from the early eighteenth century onwards.
- Warren Cup: Is a Roman silver cup. It is unique because it is decorated with homoerotic representations, two explicit sexual acts between men, of great artistic quality.
- Rosetta Stone: It contains a text in three types of writing and it is important because it has been the key to decipher the hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptians.
- Royal Game of Ur: It refers to two games found on the Royal Tombs of Ur by Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1920s. The two tablets date from the First Dynasty of Ur, before 2600 BC. Ur Royal Game is probably the oldest board game set found.
· How to get to the British Museum:
By Underground : Tottenham Court Road (300m): Central line and Northern line – Charing Cross branch Holborn (500m): Central line and Piccadilly line Russell Square (800m): Piccadilly line Goodge Street (800m): Northern line – Charing Cross branch
