London Bridge

London Bridge is a bridge in the capital of England that crosses the River Thames and is considered one of the city's most representative monuments.

Built with granite, it has a length of 283m and a width of 15m. The official inauguration took place on August 1, 1831, with King William IV and Queen Adelaide attending a banquet in a pavilion erected on the bridge. The newly constructed HMS Beagle was the first ship to sail under the bridge. It was widened in 1902-04 from 16m to 20m in an attempt to combat London's chronic traffic congestion. Unfortunately, this proved too much for the bridge's piers, and it was discovered that it was sinking 1cm every three years. By 1924, the east side of the bridge was between 8 and 10cm lower than the west side; it soon became clear that the bridge needed to be replaced with a more modern one. The bridge was reconstructed in the United States and inaugurated on October 10, 1971.

The current London Bridge was built from 1967 to 1972 and inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II on March 17, 1973. It is 283m long. Built on the same site as the original bridge, which was carefully dismantled piece by piece while the new bridge was constructed, thus keeping it in use during this process.

On Remembrance Day 2004, several London bridges were decorated with red lighting as part of a show in which planes flew over the Thames route. The lighting significantly improved the appearance of London Bridge, so it was decided to keep it to this day (although it was removed from the other bridges) and illuminates the bridge at night.