In London, silence big Ben
Moscow. 21 Aug. INTERFAX.RU — the Famous clock tower of the Palace of Westminster in London on Monday paused, perhaps for the next four years, reports “bi-Bi-si”.
About the repair plans became known last year. Then it was planned to stop the clock for a few months. Last week the House of Commons said that the pause will last four years — until 2021.
Then some British politicians have spoken out against this idea. In particular, the Prime-Minister Theresa may has criticized such a long break, noting that “it is wrong to force big Ben to be silent for four years”. After that, the British Parliament announced its intention to revise the plan for the reconstruction of the tower of Elizabeth.
The decision to stop hours was dictated by security considerations.
While the UK authorities are not agreed on the project, the cost of which could reach 5.7 billion pounds. High cost due to the need of almost complete replacement of all engineering systems that have not been updated since 1950-ies.
According to tradition, the big Ben rings every 15 minutes for the past 157 years. The last time this tradition was broken in 2013 during the funeral of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The watch fell silent in the passing of Winston Churchill in 1965 and for some time during the First world war.