Whitehall

The street called Whitehall stretches from Parliament Square to Trafalgar Square. Just as Westminster or the Palace of Westminster frequently stands for the Houses of Parliament, so Whitehall is often used as a name for the Civil Service.

Downing Street, which is a small side street off Whitehall, is the home of the Prime Minister, who lives at number 10. Next door at number 11 lives the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is responsible for financial planning and the British economy. Just around the corner in Whitehall itself are all the important ministries: the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defense, the Home Office and the Treasury.

In the middle of Whitehall is the Cenotaph where the Queen lays the first wreath of poppies on Remembrance Day. On that day each year the people of Britain remember their dead from the two world wars by wearing a red paper poppy.

The West End

The West End is the richest and most beautiful part of London. The West End is the name given to the area of central London north from the Mall to Oxford Street. Fine buildings, theatres, museums and big shops can be found in the west End. The best streets and parks of the capital are there too.

Piccadilly Circus

Piccadilly Circus is the centre of night life in the West End. This is one of the most popular meeting points of London, probably second only to Trafalgar Square. It is actually quite small, and most people are rather disappointed when they see it for the first time because they had imagined it would be much bigger. Piccadilly Circus is a dynamic and picturesque place with a happy and lively cosmopolitan atmosphere. There stroll people who come from the far-flung countries in the world, of all races, dressed in their national clothes. Groups of people like to gather around the foot of the Statue of Eros, the god of love, work of Sir Alfred Gilbert. They form a brightly colourful picture. Piccadilly Circus is a West End shopping centre. There are many shops with big advertisements, belonging to different foreign firms there.

The Royal Academy

Behind an Augustan façade off London’s Piccadilly lies a treasure house of beauty and colour. This is Burlington House – the home of the Royal Academy of Arts since 1869, whose exhibitions attract thousands of visitors every year.

The Royal Academy services to the arts began nearly 200 years ago. In 1768 a group of leading painters, sculptors and architects presented a memorial to King George II, seeking his interest in promoting an institution dedicated to encouraging art through a school of design and the holding of an annual exhibition of contemporary work.

The Academy’s prime purpose is teaching art to a number of Britain’s most talented students. About 100 students attend the Academy’s Schools and are trained in the Schools of Painting and Drawing, Sculpture and Architecture. They are selected by competitive examination from young men and women who have spent two or more years at London or provincial art schools.

The two principal public attractions of the Royal Academy are the famous series of Winter Exhibitions and the annual Summer Exhibition. From time to time the Academy also organizes special exhibitions in its smaller Diploma Gallery, which takes its name from the “diploma works” which every Royal Academician must present on election.

Buckingham Palace

With its architecturally defined profile, this is one of London’s most popular historical buildings. Buckingham Palace was built in 1703 for the Duke of Buckingham. Later restored by Nash, the present façade was planned by Sir Aston Webb in 1913. At the west end of the Mall, Buckingham Palace is the London residence of the Sovereign. When the Queen is here, the royal standard flutters over the palace. The Royal Mews, in Buckingham Palace Road, house the coaches and horses used on all state occasions and are open to the public on Wednesday and Thursday. The Queen’s Gallery, also in Buckingham Palace Road, has special exhibitions from the Royal collection and may be visited every day except Monday. In its entirety, the Palace and the beautiful gardens which surround it occupy an area of approximately 40 acres. Altogether this is one of the most interesting places in London for the tourist.

The ceremony of the Changing of the Guards that takes place daily at eleven o’clock in the morning, constitutes one of the pageants that provokes most interest among tourists. Every day a large crowd of people gather to see this famous and traditional ceremony. It is an event that, in spite of its regularity, appears vested with that solemn classical ritual, of purely British flavour, that confers on the protocol surrounding the monarchy of the United Kingdom an appearance which is nobly aristocratic, and yet lively and popular at the same time. It is something typically and intimately of London’s character.