The citizens of London were given their laws and customs by

a) William I

b) Edward the Confessor

c) the Romans

d) King Kanute

Exercise 2. Check your comprehension. Say if the sentence is true or false.

1) The banks of the river provided firm ground for a bridge.

2) The Thames Valley was not inhabited before the Roman invasion.

3) London was the capital of the Roman Empire.

4) Many pre-Roman objects are found in the Thames.

5) Diana is an ancient goddess of love.

6) St. Augustine was a prominent Christian missionary.

7) When the Romans left Britain London flourished immediately.

8) Westminster means a church in the west.

9) The Tower of London was built to remind the people about the King’s authority.

CAREFUL READING

Read the text paying special attention to details to answer the questions in Exercise3.

From that time on, London had two centres – Westminster, where royal and later political power was established, and the city, the centre of commercial wealth. Neither of them could hope to flourish without the other, and the Strand, running alongside the Thames, connected the two.

Throughout the Middle Ages the two centres kept peace. William Rufus (1087-1100) enlarged the palace; the city won the right to elect its own Lord Mayor in1191; Henry III began to rebuilt Westminster Abbey in about 1245, while his son Edward, the future Edward I, strengthened the defenses of the tower.

Buildings in the City and in Westminster, rivaled in size and beauty. St. Paul’s Cathedral grew to be the largest in England. Westminster Abbey has always remained magnificent.

During the 16^th century London’s population increased from about 50000 to some 200000 and in 1580 Elizabeth I issued a proclamation against expansion outside the walls of London. It did no good. Aristocratic landowners developed new estates in Bloomsbury and Covent Garden – their names can be found in the names of many streets. The Great Fire of 1666 destroyed 13200 houses in the City, causing quick development outside. Inside the City the fire brought about stricter building regulations, calling for the use of brick and stone. From these regulations the pattern of long terraces of houses and symmetrical squares appeared, though not in the City itself.

The development of the City gave rise to a need for more bridges. Westminster Bridge was begun in 1736, Blackfriars Bridge followed in 1769 and the rest were constructed during the next century.

The railways and Queen Victoria arrived almost together.

London’s first railway station, Euston, was opened on July 20, 1837, one month after the Queen Victoria came to throne. In 1863 the Metropolitan Railway, forerunner of the capital’s underground railway system, opened its first section. It ran between Paddington and Farringdon Street in a shallow tunnel.

By the end of the 19^th century London had become the financial centre of the world, and the other suburbs began to expand to accommodate the city workers. The Metropolitan Railways spread its lines across the fields westwards. “Live in Metroland” became the slogan.

During the First World War, London had its first taste of aerial bombardment from German Airships. Twenty-five years later the first bomb of the Second World War fell in Fore Street in 1940.

Before the war ended, 164 of the City’s 677 acres had been destroyed and Westminster was little better. Rebuilding began with high-rise offices and blocks of flats, and the City skyline became a panorama of concrete-and-glass monoliths, softened by a graceful dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral which had miraculously survived the bombing.

In 1965 a new administration, the Greater London Council was set up to govern London. The capital was divided into 32 boroughs – each of them larger and wealthier than most of Britain’s other cities. The City remains, as it always has, separate and self-governing.

London may be old, but it does not stagnate. Each generation introduces changes without spoiling the charm and character of the capital’s 2000 years of history.

London’s Treasure-houses of Art and Antiquity.

Napoleon said that the British are a nation of shopkeepers; he could have said also that they are a nation of collectors. The wealth of the 18^th century produced men who bought art treasures from all over the world. Many of these collections formed the basis for the museums and art galleries founded by the Victorians. Who left a priceless legacy be enjoyed more than in London.

Behind the classical façade of the British Museum lies one of the world’s most fabulous treasure stores. The museum was founded in 1753 with a collection of books and antiquities donated by Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), physician to George II, on condition that 20000 was paid to his daughter. The money was raised by a public lottery. The collection expanded in 1757 when George II presented the museum with the royal Library, a collection of books gathered by the Kings and Queens of England since Tudor times.

Among the museum’s best-known antiquities are the Elgin Marbles, Greek Sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens brought to London by Lord Elgin in the 19^th century. In the Egyptian Gallery is the Rosetta Stone dating from 196 BC. The stone bears inscriptions in Egyptian and Greek, which enabled scholars to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphic script. It also contains a collection of gold and silverware of the Renaissance period.

Principal Art Gallery.

On the north side of Trafalgar Square the National Gallery is England’s principal art gallery and one of the finest in Europe. It is also one of the youngest, having been founded in 1824 with only 38 paintings. The present building was designed in 1834 by William Wilkins (1778-1839).

Leonardo da Vinci’s cartoon of the Virgin and Child with St. Anne, Botticelli’s Mars and Venus and Raphael’s Virgin and Child are among works by Italian artists. Dutch masters include 19 Rembrandts, Vermeer’s Lady in a Stream and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers.

Round the corner from the National Gallery is the National Portrait Gallery, a collection of more than 9000 portraits of distinguished men and women of British History.

English paintings and modern European and American art can be seen in the Tate Gallery overlooking the Thames at Millbank. The gallery was ordered by Sir Henry Tate, the sugar refiner, in1897. Works by famous English painters Turner, Blake, Constable, Hogarth, Gainsborough figure prominently among the oil-paintings, and the sculpture collection includes figures by Rodin, Epstine and Henry Moore.

Story of London

London’s own museum, which presents the city’s history from Roman times is in the Barbican Centre. Now called the Museum of London, it was formed by uniting the London and Guildhall Museums. The collection of exhibits is arranged to tell the story of London in chronological order. There are religious sculptures found beneath the floor of the Temple of Mithras, old inn signs, models of trams which were still running in London as recently as 1952.

Carriages and Steam

Two vastly contrasting museums can be seen west of central London: Gunnesbury Park Museum and the Kew Bridge Pumping Station. The first was the home of Rothschild family. The house is a Regency mansion, and houses exhibits of local history and the 19^th century carriages used by the Rothschilds.

The Kew Bridge Pumping Station preserves in working order five of the steam-engines, which for more than 100 years drove huge pumps to supply water to West London.

At the foot of the hill Hendon, once the home of the Royal Air Force – Hendon Aerodrome – is the Royal Air Force Museum. The oldest aircraft on display is a 1909 Bleriot, and the history of the RAF is presented by machines ranging in size from the First World War fighter planes to the Lancaster bomber of the Second World War.

Hampstead is the home of one of London’s more unusual museums – Fenton House. It was the home of the 18^th century merchant, Philip Fenton. It now houses a fine collection of musical instruments, including a pair of 1664 virginals and a harpsichord of 1770.

Stamps and Wallpaper

Bruce Castle in Tottenham was for some time a school run by the Hill family, one of whom was Sir Rowland Hill (1795-1879), founder of the modern postage system. He first proposed a prepaid penny stamp on letters in 1837, and three years later the first Penny Blacks were issued. They were called so, because the first stamp cost a penny and were coloured black. In 1857 Hill became the first secretary of the Post Office.

Today Bruce Castle contains a magnificent postage stamp collection.

The boyhood home of William Morris (1834-1896) is now the William Morris Gallery. Morris was a poet, artist and designer of textiles and wallpapers. Many of his designs are on view.

The Bethnal Green Museum is for and about children. There is a collection of toys and dolls’ houses, some of which belonged to Queen Victoria, and the museum is being developed as a Museum of Childhood.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

Exercise 3. Read the four possible answers to the questions and choose the only one correct.

1. What was the basis for a great many museums and art galleries?

a) archeological findings

b) private collections

c) Victorian furniture

d) antiquities from Athens

2. Where is the world’s most fabulous treasure stored?

a) the British museum

b) the Parthenon

c) the Egyptian Gallery

d) the National Gallery.

3. Why is Rosetta Stone so valuable?

a) it is made of gold

b) it bears inscriptions in Egyptian and Greek

c) it enabled scholars to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphic script

d) it dates from the 19^th century

4. In what gallery can you see Van Gogh’s Sunflowers?

a) the British Museum

b) the National Gallery

c) the Tate Gallery

d) the Wallace Collection

5. Whose portraits are hung in the National Portrait Gallery?

a) portraits of monarchs

b) portraits of distinguished men and women of the British history

c) portraits of famous writers

d) portraits of English painters

6. Why is the Tate Gallery called so?

a) it is situated in Tate Street

b) it was donated by Turner

c) it was ordered by Sir Henry Tate

d) “Tate” means a “picture” in Greek

7. What does Gunnersbury Park Museum exhibit?

a) musical instruments

b) toys

c) carriages

d) wallpaper

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