STREET JAMES`S PARK

St James's Park is a 23-hectare (57-acre) park in the City of

Westminster, central London. The park lies at the southernmost tip of the St
James's area, which was named after a leper hospital dedicated to St James the
Less. The park is the most easterly of a near-continuous chain of parks that
comprises (moving westward) Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens.
The park is bounded by Buckingham Palace to the west, the Mall to the
north, Horse Guards to the east, and Birdcage Walk to the south. It meets Green
Park at Queen's Gardens with the Victoria Memorial at its centre, opposite the
entrance to Buckingham Palace. St James's Palace is on the opposite side of The
Mall. The closest London Underground stations are St James's Park, Green
Park, Victoria, and Westminster.
The park is Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
The park has a small lake, St James's Park Lake, with two islands, West Island,
and Duck Island, named for the lake's collection of waterfowl. A resident colony
of pelicans has been a feature of the park since pelicans were donated by a
Russian ambassador in 1664 to Charles II. While most of the time the wings are
clipped, there is a pelican who can be seen flying to the London Zoo in hopes of
another meal. The Blue Bridge across the lake affords a view west towards
Buckingham Palace framed by trees. Looking east the view includes the Swire
Fountain to the north of Duck Island and, past the lake, the grounds of Horse
Guards Parade, with Horse Guards, the Old War Office and Whitehall
Court behind. To the south of Duck Island is the Tiffany Fountain on Pelican
Rock, and past the lake is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, with
the London Eye, the Shell Tower, and the Shard behind. The park has a
children's playground including a large sandpit.

In 1532, Henry VIII bought an area of marshland through which

the Tyburn flowed from Eton College. It lies to the west of York
Palace acquired by Henry from Cardinal Wolsey; it was purchased in order to
turn York Palace, subsequently renamed Whitehall, into a dwelling fit for a
king. On James I's accession to the throne in 1603, he ordered that the park be
drained and landscaped, and exotic animals were kept in the park,
including camels, crocodiles, an elephant and exotic birds were kept in aviaries.
While Charles II was in exile in France under the Commonwealth of
England, he was impressed by the elaborate gardens at French royal palaces, and
on his ascension he had the park redesigned in a more formal style, probably by
the French landscaper Andr Mollet. A 775 metre by 38 metre (850 by 42
yard) canal was created as evidenced in the old plan. The king opened the park
to the public and used the area to entertain guests and mistresses, such as Nell
Gwyn. The park became notorious at the time as a meeting place for impromptu
acts of lechery, as described by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester in his poem
"A Ramble in St James's Park".
In the late-17th and early-18th centuries cows grazed on the park, and
milk could be bought fresh at the "Lactarian", described by Zacharias Conrad
von Uffenbach in 1710. The 18th century saw further changes, including the
reclamation of part of the canal for Horse Guards Parade and the purchase of
Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace) at the west end of the Mall, for
the use of Queen Charlotte in 1761.
Further remodelling in 182627, commissioned by the Prince Regent
(later George IV) and overseen by the architect and landscaper John Nash, saw
the canal's conversion into a more naturally-shaped lake, and formal avenues
rerouted to romantic winding pathways. At the same time, Buckingham House
was expanded to create the palace, and Marble Arch was built at its entrance,
whilst The Mall was turned into a grand processional route. It opened to public
traffic 60 years later in 1887. The Marble Arch was moved to its current location
at the junction of Oxford Street and Park Lane in 1851 and the Victoria
Memorial was erected between 1906 and 1924.

PLACE OF WESTMINSTER

The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the House of

Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the
United Kingdom. Commonly known as the Houses of Parliament after its
occupants, the Palace lies on the north bank of the River Thames in the City of
Westminster, in central London.
Its name, which is derived from the neighbouring Westminster Abbey,
may refer to either of two structures: the Old Palace, a medieval building
complex destroyed by fire in 1834, and its replacement, the New Palace that
stands today. The palace is owned by the monarch in right of the Crown and for
ceremonial purposes, retains its original status as a royal residence. The building
is managed by committees appointed by both houses, which report to
the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Speaker.
 The first royal palace was built on the site in the 11th century, and
Westminster was the primary residence of the Kings of England until fire
destroyed much of the complex in 1512. After that, it served as the home of
the Parliament of England, which had been meeting there since the 13th century,
and also as the seat of the Royal Courts of Justice, based in and
around Westminster Hall. In 1834, an even greater fire ravaged the heavily
rebuilt Houses of Parliament, and the only significant medieval structures to
survive were Westminster Hall, the Cloisters of St Stephen's, the Chapel of St
Mary Undercroft, and the Jewel Tower.
The subsequent competition for the reconstruction of the Palace was won
by the architect Charles Barry, whose design was for new buildings in
the Gothic Revival style, specifically inspired by the English Perpendicular
Gothic style of the 14th16th centuries. The remains of the Old Palace (except
the detached Jewel Tower) were incorporated into its much larger replacement,
which contains over 1,100 rooms organised symmetrically around two series of
courtyards and has a floor area of 112,476 m2 (1,210,680 sq ft). Part of the New
Palace's area of 3.24 hectares (8 acres) was reclaimed from the Thames, which is
the setting of its nearly 300-metre long (980 ft) faade, called the River Front.
Barry was assisted by Augustus Pugin, a leading authority on Gothic
architecture and style, who designed the interior of the Palace. Construction
started in 1840 and lasted for 30 years, suffering great delays and cost overruns,
as well as the death of both leading architects; works for the interior decoration
continued intermittently well into the 20th century. Major conservation work has
been carried out since then to reverse the effects of London's air pollution, and
extensive repairs took place after the Second World War, including the
reconstruction of the Commons Chamber following its bombing in 1941.
The Palace is one of the centres of political life in the United Kingdom;
"Westminster" has become a metonym for the UK Parliament, and
the Westminster system of government has taken its name after it. The Elizabeth
Tower, in particular, which is often referred to by the name of its main bell, Big
Ben, is an iconic landmark of London and the United Kingdom in general, one
of the most popular tourist attractions in the city, and an emblem of
parliamentary democracy. The Palace of Westminster has been a Grade I listed
building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
 THE LONDON EYE

The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel on the South Bank of the River
Thames in London. As of January 2015, it has been advertised as the Coca-Cola
London Eye.
The structure is 443 feet (135 m) tall and the wheel has a diameter of 394
feet (120 m). When it opened to the public in 2000 it was the world's tallest
Ferris wheel. Its height was surpassed by the 525-foot (160 m) Star of
Nanchang in 2006, the 541-foot (165 m) Singapore Flyer in 2008, and the 550-
foot (167.6 m) High Roller (Las Vegas) in 2014. Supported by an A-frame on
one side only, unlike the taller Nanchang and Singapore wheels, the Eye is
described by its operators as "the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel".
It is Europe's tallest Ferris wheel, and offered the highest public viewing
point in London until it was superseded by the 804-foot (245 m)
high observation deck on the 72nd floor of The Shard, which opened to the
public on 1 February 2013. It is the most popular paid tourist attraction in the
United Kingdom with over 3.75 million visitors annually, and has made
many appearances in popular culture.
The London Eye adjoins the western end of Jubilee Gardens (previously
the site of the former Dome of Discovery), on the South Bank of the River
Thames between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge, in the London
Borough of Lambeth.

THE SHARD

The Shard, also referred to as the Shard of Glass, Shard London Bridge
and formerly London Bridge Tower, is a 95-
storey skyscraper in Southwark, London, that forms part of the London
Bridge Quarter development. Standing 309.7 metres (1,016 ft) high, the Shard is
the tallest building in the United Kingdom, the tallest building in the European
Union, the fourth-tallest building in Europe and the 96th-tallest building in the
world. It is also the second-tallest free-standing structure in the United
Kingdom, after the concrete tower at the Emley Moor transmitting station.
The Shard's construction began in March 2009; it was topped out on 30
March 2012 and inaugurated on 6 July 2012. Practical completion was achieved
in November 2012. The tower's privately operated observation deck, The View
from The Shard, was opened to the public on 1 February 2013. The glass-
clad pyramidal tower has 72 habitable floors, with a viewing gallery and open-
air observation deck on the 72nd floor, at a height of 244.3 metres (802 ft). It
was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano and replaced Southwark
Towers, a 24-storey office block built on the site in 1975. The Shard was
developed by Sellar Property Group on behalf of LBQ Ltd and is jointly owned
by Sellar Property (5%) and the State of Qatar (95%).

THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM

The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A),

London, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a
permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and
named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
The V&A is located in the Brompton district of the Royal Borough of
Kensington and Chelsea, in an area that has become known as "Albertopolis"
because of its association with Prince Albert, the Albert Memorial and the major
cultural institutions with which he was associated. These include the Natural
History Museum, the Science Museum and the Royal Albert Hall. The museum
is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture,
Media and Sport. Like other national British museums, entrance to the museum
has been free since 2001.
The V&A covers 12.5 acres (5.1 ha) and 145 galleries. Its collection spans
5,000 years of art, from ancient times to the present day, from the cultures
of Europe, North America, Asia and North Africa. The holdings of ceramics,
glass, textiles, costumes, silver, ironwork, jewellery, furniture, medieval objects,
sculpture, prints and printmaking, drawings and photographs are among the
largest and most comprehensive in the world.
The museum owns the world's largest collection of post-
classical sculpture, with the holdings of Italian Renaissance items being the
largest outside Italy. The departments of Asia include art from South Asia,
China, Japan, Korea and the Islamic world. The East Asian collections are
among the best in Europe, with particular strengths in ceramics and metalwork,
while the Islamic collection is amongst the largest in the Western world.
Overall, it is one of the largest museums in the world.
 Since 2001, the museum has embarked on a major 150m renovation
programme, which has seen a major overhaul of the departments, including the
introduction of newer galleries, gardens, shops and visitor facilities.
New 17th- and 18th-century European galleries were opened on 9
December 2015. These restored the original Aston Webb interiors and host the
European collections 16001815.

SEA LIFE LONDON AQUARIUM

The Sea Life London Aquarium is located on the ground floor of County
Hall on the South Bank of the River Thames in central London, near the London
Eye. It opened in March 1997 as the London Aquarium and hosts about one
million visitors each year.

In 2005, the aquarium displayed three robotic fish created by the

computer science department at the University of Essex. The fish were designed
to be autonomous, swimming around and avoiding obstacles like real fish. Their
creator claimed that he was trying to combine "the speed of tuna, acceleration of
a pike, and the navigating skills of an eel."

In April 2008, the aquarium was purchased by Merlin Entertainments for

an undisclosed sum. The facility was closed for a 5 million refurbishment,
which was completed in April 2009. The additions included a new underwater
tunnel, Shark Walk, a revamped Pacific Ocean tank, and a complete rerouting of
the exhibit, all of which were carried out under the supervision of architects Kay
Elliott. The attraction officially became a Sea Life Centre when it reopened in
April 2009.
In May 2011, the aquarium opened a new penguin exhibit, with 10 gentoo
penguins transferred from the Edinburgh Zoo. In 2015, the aquarium was moved
to a different location in County Hall due to the opening of Shrek's Adventure!
London.
The aquarium includes two classrooms themed around the conservation
campaigns which the zoo supports, which host up to 40,000 school children each
year and are open to the public when not in use by the education program. It is
involved in several breeding programs including the Cuban
crocodile, seahorses, butterfly goodeids, and jellyfish, and works with many
conservation organizations including Whale and Dolphin Conservation
Society, Save Our Seas, and Shark Trust.

LONDON ZOO

The London Zoo is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in
London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection
for scientific study. It was eventually opened to the public in 1847.[3] Today it
houses a collection of 755 species of animals, with 15,104 individuals, making it
one of the largest collections in the United Kingdom.
It is managed under the aegis of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL),
established in 1826. It is situated at the northern edge of Regent's Park, on the
boundary line between City of Westminster and Camden (the Regent's
Canal runs through it). The Society also has a more spacious site at ZSL
Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire to which the larger animals such as elephants
and rhinos have been moved. As well as being the first scientific zoo, ZSL
London Zoo also opened the first Reptile house (1849), first public Aquarium
(1853), first insect house (1881) and the first children's zoo (1938).
ZSL receives no state funding and relies on 'Fellows', 'Friends',
'Members', entrance fees and sponsorship to generate income.
However, the ZSL's nearby Institute of Zoology is eligible for public
grants as a scientific institution. It has an international reputation
in bioconservation.
 PORTOFOLIU LIMBA
ENGLEZ

NUME: FLOREA IONU CRISTIAN

CLASA: A IX-A A M.I.