While the daily changing of the guards is a tourist magnet, this majestic palace is a London icon and home of the Queen. You know that she is in residence when the flag is flying above the palace!
Big Ben refers to the 13 ton bell in the clock tower of Westminster Palace. Opinion is divided as to whether it was named after the then Commissioner of Works, or a famous prize-fighter of the time.
The gallery opened in 1824 to exhibit 38 paintings purchased by the government. The UK national collection is relatively small because unlike in Europe, the monarch’s collection was not nationalised.
Much of the collection was inherited from the Museum of Patents (est 1858) and includes early locomotives such as Stephenson’s Rocket and Puffing Billy, and the first jet engine.
