Date uploaded in London – – 31 MAY 2024
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Lot of pictures and reading materials are available about the world-famous city London. But reading about it from a person who has been living in London for over 35 years is better than reading it from a book.
When I say London, you will immediately remember Big Ben Clock or Buckingham Palace; in the same way Paris will bring the Eiffel Tower to your memory and New York will bring Statue of Liberty to your memory. But there are hundreds of places also that will be ever green in your mind one you see it.
I know a lot of people residing in Chennai who had never been to Kanchipuram Kailasanatha Temple or Mahabalipuram Cave Temples, both are Pallava monuments. In the same way I know a lot of people who had never been to Bank of England Museum in London. Thank God, wisdom dawned upon me one day and I visited it because I am a numismatist and a philatelist.
As a numismatist, I am interested in coins and currency notes. Britain issues a new Coin Set every year and currency notes every year with different designs. On special occasions they issue mor coins, for example London Olympics. When I went there for the first time a few years ago, I learnt many things about the history of Banking in the UK and the printing of currency notes and minting coins. All these are displayed there with samples. I read them patiently and took pictures of notes and coins.
But there was a surprise for me. There is a gold bar weighing 13 kilos! And you are allowed to lift it! That created big interest many of the visitors. I also tried my hand, but I couldn’t lift much because it is inside a glass cover. A lever coming out of it will help you to lift it. and there is a display board which said it is 400 troy ounces, approximately 13 kilos.
Even seeing a 13 kilo gold bar is a rare scene for a poor man like me; and lifting it is a god sent opportunity.
This month I visited museum for the second time.
Please see my pictures for more information.
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From that time, I used to tell my friends and relatives about the museum and encourage them to go there. This month my brother and wife from India visited London. After seeing the main attractions like Big Ben, Parliament House, Thames River, London Tower, London Eye, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus, Thames River Cruise, Charing Cross Road with Theatres, Trafalgar Square, National Art Gallery, Westminster Abbey, Oxford Stret, Seven Storey building with toys -Hamleys, Wembley Stadium, Sherlock Holms statue at Baker Street etc, I took them to Bank of England Museum on 17-5-2024. They also enjoyed lifting the gold bar.
They did not want to go to other Museums and so we skipped British Museum, V & A Museum, Greenwich Observatory. We also did not go to Wax Museum known as Madame Tussauds because we have that type of wax museums in many cities around the world.
But I am a museum enthusiast and so I visit all the museums in Europe. London has beautiful Tate Gallery, Natural History Museum, Science Museum and Museum of Mankind.
There are parks like Hyde Park, St James Park, Kew Gardens, Green Park etc.
There are big shopping malls and famous stores like The Harrods and Selfridges.
Boat trip along the Thames River helped us to see many famous buildings like Globe Theatre of Shakespeare, St Pauls Cathedral, Queen Elizabeth Music Hall, and ‘Shards’ the tallest building in the UK.
While we walked along the Oxford street from Tottenham Road to Marble Arch, covering four Underground stations, we saw Hare Krishna Bhajan group. They do Bhajan along the Bazar street every day.
Though London has very famous restaurants serving international, multi- cultural food, we enjoyed our own food at Saravana Bhavan in Wembley.
(In the next article I will write about Tower Bridge opening especially for us)
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Admission Free
Location and Access to Bank of England Museum
It is very near Bank Station (Underground). When you come of the ticket gate, you will see many exits. Take Bank of England Exit or Threadneedle Street Exit. Both the bank and the museum are in two adjacent streets. From the station it is only a few minutes’ walk.
Open Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm (last entry 4.30pm)
Free, no booking needed
Open late every third Thursday of the month, until 8pm (last entry 7.30pm). Closed Bank Holidays and weekends.
Bank of England
Threadneedle Street, London, EC2R 8AH
Switchboard: +44(0)20 3461 4444Opens in a new window
Enquiries: +44(0)20 3461 4878Opens in a new window
Bank of England Museum
Bartholomew Lane, London, EC2R 8AH
(Browse topics- Banknotes, Careers, Digital pound, Education, Financial stability, Gold, Markets, Monetary policy, Payment and settlement, Prudential regulation, Research, Statistics)
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TROY OUNCE
A troy ounce is a system of weights used for precious metals and gems, based on a pound of 12 ounces as opposed to the traditional 16. A troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams or 0.0311034768 kilograms.
–subham—
Tags- Bank of England Museum, gold bar, lifting, London, Places to see in London
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