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Burials and Memorials
The Abbey at night, from Dean's Yard. Artificial light reveals the exoskeleton formed by flying buttresses Henry III rebuilt the Abbey in honour of the Royal Saint Edward the Confessor whose relics were placed in a shrine in the sanctuary. Henry III was interred nearby in a superb chest tomb with effigial monument, as were many of the Plantagenet kings of England, their wives and other relatives. Subsequently, most Kings and Queens of England were buried here, although Henry VIII and Charles I are buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, as are all monarchs and royals after George II. In 2005 the original ancient burial tomb of Edward the Confessor was discovered, beneath the 1268 Cosmati mosaic pavement, in front of the High Altar. A series of royal tombs dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries was also discovered using ground-penetrating radar. Aristocrats were buried in side chapels and monks and people associated with the Abbey were buried in the Cloisters and other areas. One of these was Geoffrey Chaucer, who was buried here as he had apartments in the Abbey where he was employed as master of the Kings Works. Other poets were buried around Chaucer in what became known as Poets' Corner. Abbey musicians such as Henry Purcell were also buried in their place of work. Subsequently it became an honour to be buried or memorialised here. The practice spread from aristocrats and poets to generals, admirals, politicians, scientists, doctors, etc., etc. These include: Buried
Westminster Abbey with a procession of Knights of the Bath, by Canaletto, 1749 Nave
[edit] North Transept
[edit] South Transept
The North entrance of Westminster Abbey Poets' Corner
[edit] Cloisters
[edit] North Choir Aisle
[edit] Chapel of St Paul
[edit] Commemorated
Christian martyrs from across the world are depicted in statues above the Great West Door
Transport
Transport is one of the four areas of policy administered by the Mayor of London, but the mayor's financial control is limited. The public transport network, administered by Transport for London (TfL), is one of the most extensive in the world, but faces congestion and reliability issues, which a large investment programme is attempting to address, including £7 billion (ˆ10 billion) of improvements planned for the Olympics.
The centrepiece of the public transport network is the London Underground, the oldest metro system in the world, dating from 1863. The Metro system was home to the world's first underground electric line, the City & South London Railway, which began service in 1890. Nearly 1 billion journeys are made each year on the London Underground system. The Underground serves the central area and most suburbs to the north of the Thames, whilst those to the south are served by an extensive suburban rail network. Commuter and intercity railways generally do not cross the city, instead running into fourteen terminal stations scattered around its historic centre. The London bus network caters for most local journeys and carries even more passengers than the Underground.
Although the vast majority of journeys involving central London are made by public transport, travel in outer London is car-dominated. The inner ring road (around the city centre), the North and South Circular roads (in the suburbs) and an orbital motorway (the M25, outside the built-up area) circuit the city and are intersected by a number of busy radial routes — but very few motorways penetrate into inner London. A plan for a comprehensive network of motorways throughout the city (the Ringways Plan) was prepared in the 1960s but was mostly cancelled in the early 1970s due to vociferous objections from the population and the huge costs. In 2003, the congestion charge was introduced to reduce traffic volumes in the city centre. With a few exceptions, motorists are required to pay £8 per day to drive within a defined zone encompassing much of central London. Motorists who are residents in the defined zone can also buy a season pass which is renewed monthly.
London is an international transport hub, with five sizeable airports and a cross-channel rail service. Heathrow is the busiest airport in the world for international traffic; such traffic is also handled at Gatwick, whilst Stansted and Luton cater mostly for low-cost short-haul flights. London City, the smallest and most central airport, is focused on business travellers. Eurostar trains link London Waterloo station with Lille and Paris in France, and Brussels in Belgium.
On a small note, Biggin Hill is counted as London's sixth airport. However, this is not an international airport and handles mainly chartered aircraft.
Education
Home to a diverse range of universities, colleges and schools, London has a significant student population (about 378,000) and is a centre of research and development. Most primary and secondary schools in London follow the same system as the rest of England.
With 125,000 students, the University of London is the largest contact teaching university in the United Kingdom and in Europe. It comprises 20 colleges as well as several smaller institutes, each with a high degree of autonomy. Constituent colleges have their own admissions procedures, and are effectively universities in their own right, although all degrees are awarded by the University of London rather than the individual colleges. Its constituents include multi-disciplinary colleges such as UCL, King's and Queen Mary and more specialised institutions such as Imperial, the London School of Economics, SOAS, the Royal Academy of Music and the Institute of Education.
London's other universities, such as City University, London Metropolitan University, Middlesex University, UEL, the University of Westminster and London South Bank University, are not part of the University of London. Some were polytechnics until these were granted university status in 1992, and others which were founded much earlier.
London is home to a number of important museums and other institutions which are major tourist attractions as well as playing a research role. The Natural History Museum, Science Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum (dealing with fashion and design) are clustered in South Kensington's "museum quarter", whilst the British Museum houses historic artefacts from around the world. The British Library at St Pancras is the UK's national library, housing 150 million items.[36] The city also houses extensive art collections, primarily in the National Gallery, Tate Britain and Tate Modern. ( àêàäåìèÿ ìóç) ANNOTATIONS
Date: 2015-12-24; view: 788
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