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To be safe, use earplugs and ear defenders over them while getting near to Big Ben. The 13.7-tonne bell rings, and you feel a tremor in your chest. The well-known ringer is back with a bong after a five-year repair process. After undergoing a lengthy restoration involving more than 1,000 moving components, the Great Clock that looms over Britain’s Houses of Parliament is now running on a daily basis.
The five cast-iron bells of the clock, including Big Ben, stopped ringing in 2017, and a sombre assembly of lawmakers and workers gathered below. Some people cried.
However, after a week of testing, regular service will start again at 11:00 am (1100 GMT) on Sunday.
The time represents the exact moment on November 11, 1918, when World War I came to an end. Every November 11th, Armistice Day is promptly followed by Remembrance Sunday in the United Kingdom.
Together with New Year’s Eve, when the United Kingdom will leave the European Union in 2021, and the burial of Queen Elizabeth II in September, these are two of the rare times Big Ben and his partners have rung since 2017.
The bells are housed in a belfry at the top of the 96-meter (315-foot) Elizabeth Tower, which is surrounded by external netting to keep away bats and pigeons.
Some of London’s most breathtaking views may be seen beyond.
However, the three in-house timekeepers for parliament are unable to take in the scenery.
The tests have been closely monitored by Ian Westworth, 60, and his coworkers to make sure everything is in working condition after the $90-million renovation.
British calling
In 2012, the Clock Tower was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in honour of the late queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
It first dominated the Westminster skyline when it was constructed in the 1840s. Today, there are more recent, higher structures nearby.
Each of the five bells’ hammers and arms were cleaned and painted throughout the five-year refurbishment. The actual bells remained in situ.
Big Ben, which announces the hour, is so enormous that, if it ever needed to be removed, the flooring in the tower below would have to be taken apart.
The quarter-hour is chimed by the four lesser bells around it.
The biggest task was disassembling the 11.5-tonne clock mechanism from 1859 so a specialised company in Cumbria, northwest England, could clean, repair, and re-oil every cog and pinion.
Other modifications were purely aesthetic.
The four clock faces are now illuminated by 28 round LED lights, with a balance of green and white providing the most accurate representation of how they would have appeared in gas-lit Victorian times.
When parliament is in session, a taller LED light sits above the bells and emits a white glow.
Modern sprinkler systems have been installed throughout the tower, but they cannot protect the belfry.
