Amazon Quiz (September 15): This clock tower was renamed to what in 2012 to mark a very significant occasion?
Charles Tower
George Tower
Victoria Tower
Elizabeth Tower
Answer: Elizabeth Tower
The Great Bell of the striking clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, is known by the moniker Big Ben. The name is frequently expanded to include the clock and the clock tower as well. Big Ben’s tower’s official name was previously Clock Tower, but to honour Queen Elizabeth II‘s Diamond Jubilee, it was renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012.
Neo-Gothic architecture was used in Augustus Pugin’s design of the tower. Its clock was the biggest and most precise four-faced striking and chiming clock when it was finished in 1859. The belfry has 334 steps up from the ground level and the tower is 316 feet tall.
Its square base is 40 feet wide on each side. The clock’s dials have a 22.5-foot diameter. The tower displays shields for each of the UK’s four nations: a rose for England, a thistle for Scotland, a shamrock for Ireland, and a leek for Wales. Celebrations were conducted to commemorate the tower’s 150th birthday on May 31, 2009.
The largest and heaviest bell in the tower is called Big Ben, and it weighs 13.5 long tonnes. For 23 years, it was the biggest bell in the UK. The nickname for the bell is unknown; it could have been given to honour heavyweight boxing champion Benjamin Caunt or Sir Benjamin Hall, who oversaw its installation.
At 15, 30, and 45 minutes after the hour, as well as right before Big Ben sounds the hour, four quarter bells ring. Although the clock’s original Victorian mechanism is still in operation, an electric motor is a backup option.
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