The Tower of London [antikvár]

The Tower of LondonThe Tower of London from an engraving by HollarThe Tower of London was first built by William the Conqueror, for the purpose of protecting and controlling the city. As first planned, it lay within the Román city walls, but its enlargement late in the twelfth century carried its boundaries eastwards beyond the walls. Part of the Tower, therefore, was in the City of London, and part outside, but it forms, with its surrounding fortifications, a Liberty in itself. Nowadays it is wholly within the borough of Stepney. It covers 18 acres within the Garden rails.The present buildings are partly of the Norman period; but architecture of almost all the styles which have flourished in England may be found within the walls. The Tower has in the past been a fortress, a palace and a prison, and has housed the Royal Mint, the Public Records and (for a short time) the Royal Observatory. It was for centuries the arsenal for small-arms, and is still garrisoned. From the thirteenth century until 1834 it alsó housed the Royal Menagerie, the predecessor of the London Zoo.The oldest and most important building is the Great Tower or Keep, called the White Tower. The Inner Ward is defended by a wall containing thirteen towers, the only surviving originál entrance to it being that on the south side under the Bloody Tower. The Outer Ward is defended by a second wall, flanked by six towers on the river face, and by two semicircular