London [antikvár]

LONDON . Mrodiictioii ONDON IS A CITY WITH VARIETY. Lovely in an unconventional way, with surprises round every corner, it is a capital which 1 reveals its secrets in the oddest places and displays its magnificence almost reluctantly. Narrow streets meander into triumphal routes; graceful Wren spires peep from between high-tech towers; Georgian terraces reign over leafy squares; Victorian stations parade provincial wealth; and in a royal park a rustic cottage sits at the feet of a mighty government office. There is an inner beauty too: the sensual pleasures of good hving and the intellectual stimulation of a vigorous artistic life all contribute to the vitality apparent in London today. It was this variety that caused Boswell to admit he often amused himself 'thinking how different a place London is to different people'. Called a modern Babylon by Disraeli and the clearing house of the world by Joseph Chamberlain, London has been championed by the innumerable writers and artists who have found inspiration here. Some, like William Morris who exhorted his readers to 'dream of London, small and white and clean', were perhaps looking through a rose-tinted lens; and Dr Johnson, partly in jest, told Boswell the noblest prospect a Scotsman ever sees is the road to London. Others, such as Monet or Wordsworth, captured it in romantic mood, while Canaletto bathed the Westminster of the 1750s in Venetian sunlight. London is so full of history that the past is almost overwhelming. Walk through a busy commercial quarter and tablets commemorate vanished City churches; or stroll along tree-lined avenues and blue plaques on houses recall where the famous lived or died. Peer down a concrete stairwell near the Tower of London and the defensive Roman wall is laid bare. Glance at a butcher's stall in Leadenball Market and be told that Samuel Pepys bought 'a leg of beef, a good one, for LEFT: Trafalgar Square is part of the Metropolitan Improvements proposed during the Regency, the largest single town plan conceived and completed in London. The overall scheme was devised by John Nash (1752-1835), who intended to surround the square with buildings for the Royal Academy of Arts and other learned societies; only the National Gallery was built. Nash was not responsible for the design of the square, nor did he live to see it named after the famous naval battle. Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860) laid it out on the site of the former royal mews, overcoming the problem of a slope by levelling the central area and placing a terrace with a flight of steps on the north side. The proposal to commemorate Nelson, the victor at Trafalgar, did not arise until 1837, when a letter suggesting the idea appeared in The Times; in 1843 the column with its statue was put in position.