London's Big Ben is finally restored, but the rest of Westminster is threatened by decay

LETTER FROM LONDON

A very early morning appointment was arranged at Westminster Hall. It was 7:30 am in the enormous medieval hall, the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster, dating from the late 11th century. That should leave enough time to reach the top of the newly refurbished Elizabeth Tower to hear Big Ben ring out at 8 am. Restoration work was completed in September, and at the end of November, visits slowly resumed after a five-year hiatus.

Tickets can be booked online, but the next sale to the general public will not take place until December 13, for visits scheduled in March 2024. Of course, the 96-meter-high tower housing the famous four-faced clock and its enormous bell (Big Ben, at almost 14 tonnes, has given its name to the entire building) is easily London's most famous skyline feature. Completed in 1859, at the height of the Victorian era, following the rebuilding of a palace largely destroyed by fire in 1834, this grand lady is an icon and beacon of British parliamentary democracy.

It is accessed from inside Westminster, through a discreet door opening onto a usually busy corridor linking the old part of the palace to Portcullis House, an extension to Parliament inaugurated in 2001. Up the 334 steps of a narrow spiral staircase, you reach the enormous four-sided clock mechanism, which occupies an entire landing. Renowned for its reliability, the fully mechanical clock was designed by architect Edmund Beckett Denison, with the assistance of Royal Astronomer George Airy, and assembled by clockmaker Edward John Dent. Restoration was entrusted to a British company, the Cumbria Clock Company, based near the Lake District in north-west England.

Live sound on BBC Radio 4

The tower's five bells appear above the mechanism: Big Ben, right in the middle, a huge, inverted cast-iron corolla, and four "Quarter Bells;" ringing the quarter-hour chimes, weighing from 1 tonne for the lightest to 4 tonnes for the heaviest, which produces a deep B (whereas Big Ben sounds a massive E). It takes a few more flights of steps to reach their level and discover the impressive view over London. The Thames shimmers like a silvery snake, the City points its towers on the horizon, and the bustle of traffic can be heard surprisingly well. But we let ourselves be distracted: The first of Big Ben's eight bongs rang out before we had time to put on our noise-canceling headphones. It is absolutely deafening. The other seven bongs are barely more endurable despite the headphones.

You have 53.6% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.