The tower of London.

The White Tower A tower raven Yeomen Warders (Beefeaters)

The Tower of London is an incredible medieval time capsule has been standing guard over the capital for over 900 years.

In 1066 the Normans (William the Conqueror) built a castle on the edge of London, in the southeastern corner of the old Roman city walls. The Normans joined up the walls with a ditch and fence to make a yard, in which they probably built a wooden tower. About ten years later William the Conqueror ordered the build the building of the great stone tower, later called the White Tower.

The Tower of London has been “fortress, palace, home of the Crown Jewels and national treasures, arsenal, mint, prison, observatory, zoo and tourist attraction”, wrote the Duke of Edinburgh in a book celebrating the Tower’s 900^th anniversary.

Each monarch left some kind of personal mark on it.

The Tower of London long continued to be both a fortress and a palace. It was also a prison. At first prisoners were often foreign princes and nobles, who had been captured in war. But later on, in Tudor times, the Tower became the place where famous and infamous people were sent, and perhaps tortured and executed. The grey stones of the Tower could tell terrible stories of violence and injustice. Many sad and cruel events took place within the walls of the Tower. Among famous prisoners executed at the Tower were Henry VIII’s wives Ann Boleyn and Catherine Howard.

When Queen Elizabeth was a princess, she was sent to the Tower by Mary Tudor (“Bloody Mary”) and kept prisoner for some time.

The Crown Jewels are kept in the Jewell House in the Tower. The collection includes Saint Edward’s Crown, used for the coronation ceremony, the Imperial State Crown, containing 3000 jewels, and the head of the Sceptre with the Cross contains the second biggest cut diamond in the world, the “Star of Africa”, 530 carats (106g).

St. Edward’s Crown The Regalia The Imperial State Crown

Representing far more than precious stones and gold, the Crown Jewels symbolize hundreds of years of British history and are still a working collection used today at many State occasions.

The ravens whose forefathers used to find food in the Tower still live here as part of history. There is a legend that if the ravens disappear, the Tower will fall and the kingdom with it. That is why the birds are carefully guarded. Nowadays there are usually six ravens, whose wings are clipped. When one dies, a young bird is brought from Scotland or Wales to replace it. The ravens have names and are taken care by the Raven master.

There are many traditions in the Tower that have survived the centuries. Since the Tower’s history the gates and the safe-keeping of prisoners have been entrusted to the Yeomen Warders. They used to be the monarch’s private bodyguard. “Beefeater” was a nickname for well-fed servants. They wear a Tudor-style uniform. Their everyday uniform is black and red, but on state occasions they wear a ceremonial dress: fine red state uniform with the golden and black stripes and the wide lacecollar, which were in fashion in the 16^th century.

Every night at 10 p.m. in the Tower of London the Ceremony of the Keys, or locking up the Tower for the night takes place. It goes back to the Middle Ages. After the ceremony everyone who approachesthe gate must give the password or turn away.

No other historic monument in England can boast such an unbroken continuity with the past or has played such a major role in the nation’s heritage.