London Visit

This page contains information about and pictures of our visit to London. This was not part of the Elderhostel tour, but was immediately afterward.

St Athans Hotel	Comments
	We stayed at the St Athans Hotel in the Bloomsbury area near Russell Square.

Shakesphere's Globe Theatre	Comments
	The first Globe was built in Southwark in 1599. At the heart of Shakespeare's London it quickly became the centrepiece of 'theatreland', the Elizabethan equivalent of Shaftesbury Avenue or Broadway and the main theatrical entertainment ('red light') district of London. Unfortunately, the theatre was burnt down in 1613 when a prop cannon shot an ember into the thatched roof during a performance of Henry VIII. Sam Wanamaker established the Globe Playhouse Trust with the central objective of raising funds to rebuild the Globe. Southwark Council offered the Trust 1.2 acre site beside the River Thames, opposite St Paul's cathedral, approximately 200 yards from the site of the original Globe for the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Old Globe Theater.

British Library	Comments
	We spent one complete day visiting the exhibits of the British Library

St Paul's Cathedral	Comments
	St Paul's Cathedral has been rebuilt four times since the first recorded wooden church of 604 (Wren found evidence of even earlier use). The present cathedral, by Sir Christopher Wren, was completed in 1713, after its decaying predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire of London. The great dome, 34m in diameter, is decorated inside with scenes from the life of St. Paul. A statue of John Donne, the Elizabethan poet and the cathedral’s most celebrated dean, may be seen in the South Choir Aisle: this was the only monument to survive the Great Fire undamaged. Sir Christopher Wren, the Duke of Wellington and Lord Nelson are amongst those buried in the crypt and there are memorials to many great artists.

British Museum	Comments
	The British Museum , founded in 1753, contains world-famous collections of antiquities from Egypt, Western Asia, Greece and Rome, as well as Prehistoric and Romano-British, Medieval, Renaissance, Modern and Oriental collections; Prints and Drawings; Coins, Medals and Banknotes. The Museum's collections number some six-and-a-half million objects ranging in size from sherds to colossal statues. The collections are maintained both for exhibition and as a research resource for some 30,000 enquiries from professional academics, school-children, tourists each year. The main building has six main levels and a number of mezzanines - there are 94 permanent and temporary exhibition galleries displaying Museum objects.

National Gallery	Comments
	The National Gallery collection spans the period from about 1260 to 1900 and consists of Western European paintings.

St Athans Hotel Comments

We stayed at the St Athans Hotel in the Bloomsbury area near Russell Square.

Shakesphere's Globe Theatre Comments
The first Globe was built in Southwark in 1599. At the heart of Shakespeare's London it quickly became the centrepiece of 'theatreland', the Elizabethan equivalent of Shaftesbury Avenue or Broadway and the main theatrical entertainment ('red light') district of London. Unfortunately, the theatre was burnt down in 1613 when a prop cannon shot an ember into the thatched roof during a performance of Henry VIII.
Sam Wanamaker established the Globe Playhouse Trust with the central objective of raising funds to rebuild the Globe. Southwark Council offered the Trust 1.2 acre site beside the River Thames, opposite St Paul's cathedral, approximately 200 yards from the site of the original Globe for the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Old Globe Theater.

British Library Comments
We spent one complete day visiting the exhibits of the British Library

St Paul's Cathedral Comments
St Paul's Cathedral has been rebuilt four times since the first recorded wooden church of 604 (Wren found evidence of even earlier use).
The present cathedral, by Sir Christopher Wren, was completed in 1713, after its decaying predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire of London.

The great dome, 34m in diameter, is decorated inside with scenes from the life of St. Paul. A statue of John Donne, the Elizabethan poet and the cathedral’s most celebrated dean, may be seen in the South Choir Aisle: this was the only monument to survive the Great Fire undamaged.

Sir Christopher Wren, the Duke of Wellington and Lord Nelson are amongst those buried in the crypt and there are memorials to many great artists.

British Museum Comments
The British Museum , founded in 1753, contains world-famous collections of antiquities from Egypt, Western Asia, Greece and Rome, as well as Prehistoric and Romano-British, Medieval, Renaissance, Modern and Oriental collections; Prints and Drawings; Coins, Medals and Banknotes.

The Museum's collections number some six-and-a-half million objects ranging in size from sherds to colossal statues.

The collections are maintained both for exhibition and as a research resource for some 30,000 enquiries from professional academics, school-children, tourists each year.

The main building has six main levels and a number of mezzanines - there are 94 permanent and temporary exhibition galleries displaying Museum objects.

National Gallery Comments
The National Gallery collection spans the period from about 1260 to 1900 and consists of Western European paintings.

Links:

St Athans Hotel
British Museum
British Library
National Gallery
Shakespeare's reconstructed Old Globe Theater
Bloomsbury Theatre

Houses of Parliament
St Paul's Cathedral

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Changes last made on: February 28, 2005

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