The face of each clock is made of 312 sections of opal glass and requires cleaning every 5 years.ģ. The tower required more than 3,000 cubic feet of stone and almost 92,000 cubic feet of bricks to construct. The hour hand is 9.2 feet long while the minute hand is 14 feet long. Meanwhile, there are four clocks on the tower, one on each side of it. Here are a few other facts about Big Ben that will tickle your mind: The bell weighs 13.7 tons, which is about twice the weight of a T-Rex! Its diameter is at 8.9 feet, while the hammer inside the bell weighs 441 pounds. His name is inscribed upon the bell when it was casted in 1858, thus the nickname Big Ben. He was the first commissioner of Public Works in London who was in charge of the construction of the Houses of Parliament, the building to which the tower is attached to. So where did “Big Ben” come from? Well, it is a nickname given to the bell and it came from Sir Benjamin Hall’s name. Oddly enough, the bell’s real name isn’t “Big Ben” either it’s called the Great Bell. So what people actually refer to when they say “Big Ben” is the bell inside the tower. But in 2012, the landmark was renamed the Elizabeth Tower to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. For hundreds of years, it used to be called, simply, the Clock Tower. That’s right – this famous London landmark isn’t officially named Big Ben. Big Ben isn’t actually the official name of the famous landmark. Photo Credit: © Colin via Wikimedia Commons.ġ. London skyline with Big Ben and environs, including the London Eye, Portcullis House, Parliament Square, and St Margaret’s Church.
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