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Big Ben

This year Big Ben celebrated its 150th (!) birthday in May. The modern 96.3 meter high tower was designed by Augustus Pugin who was a renowned Catholic Gothic architect.
He was especially commissioned by Charles Barry who was in charge of the design and reconstruction of a new palace of Westminster following a fire that destroyed the original palace in 1834.
The actual clock mechanism was designed by Edmund Beckett Denison,

a lawyer and an amateur horologist and Sir George Airy, Astronomer Royal (this is an honorary title awarded to one eminent British astronomer at a time since 1675) and constructed by Edward John Dent.
The clock is known for its reliability and didn’t have any major stops for more than hundred years! Such a beautiful building – I have three million pictures of it because it is difficult to get a ‘perfect’ shot! Still I am looking forward to see your pictures of Big Ben – maybe we can get to four ;)