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It’s been nearly five years since construction work started on London’s favourite clock. Now, after a snazzy £79.7 million makeover, it’s ready to remove the scaffolding to reveal the roof and all four of its brand-new faces – just in time to ring in 2022.
The refurbishment, which was delayed due to the pandemic, hopes to restore the original vision of parliament’s architects Augustus Welby Pugin and Charles Barry, who designed the neo-Gothic icon back in 1859. It’s been the biggest repair project in the clock’s 160-year history and this is the beginning of the end, with the entire restoration due to finish by summer next year.
We know what you’re thinking: it better look considerably different after all that cash has been splashed on it. Well, all the dials’ hands and numerals have been repainted with a bright Prussian blue, rather than the black we’re used to seeing (this was first revealed on a single clockf ace back in September). A row of six shields above each dial showing a St George’s red cross on a white background, from Barry’s original design, has also been added.
The panels on the four clock faces have been restored with hand-blown glass, and the heraldic shields representing the four parts of the United Kingdom – the Irish shamrock, Welsh leek, Scottish thistle and English rose – have also been given a fresh lick of paint.
Most importantly, all of this will be uncovered just before the new year, with the bell chiming twelve times to mark the start of 2022 after being mostly silent since 2017. And with Omicron holding the capital in its gloomy clutches, it may well be the most action a lot of us are going to get on New Year’s Eve.
As clocks go, Big Ben screams main character energy. Formerly known as the Great Clock Tower, the structure’s proper name is now the Elizabeth Tower, after it was retitled in honour of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. It also has a lot of secrets, for example, there’s a prison inside, up 114 steps, where they used to chuck naughty MPs back in the day. Find out more dirty facts about the landmark here.
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