Big Ben will be silent until 2021 due to restoration work on the Elizabeth Tower. The clock will be disassembled and cleaned, and an electric motor will temporarily keep time. The bell will still ring for important events.
Big Ben alerts Londoners of the time of day on the hour, when an E note strikes. Every 15 minutes, four quarter bells are struck from the clock tower above the Houses of Parliament. But on August 21, the striking hammers will be locked and the bell disconnected from the clockwork, until 2021, when restoration work on the Elizabeth Tower, home to the bells and the Great Clock, will have been completed.
A break from hourly bongs:
The Great Bell, known worldwide as Big Ben, weighs 13.7 tons. Big Ben has kept time almost continuously for 157 years, except when it needed maintenance, such as in 1983 and again in 2007.
The Great Clock will be disassembled piece by piece and its four dials will be cleaned and repaired. An electric motor will spin the clock’s hands until the main mechanism has reset, then continue to read the time.
The bell will still ring for important events, including New Years and Remembrance Sunday. The famous Elizabeth Tower is said to be the most photographed building in the UK.
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