The Big Ben Tower

Queen Victoria used to look out of Buckingham Palace at night and see the clocks lit up, meaning that her ministers were still working late into the night. The clock hands are almost nine feet or 2.7 meters long, and the minute hands are 14 feet or 4.3 meters long. Inside the tower there are four bells that chime every 15 minutes. Big Ben weighs over 13 tons and bongs every hour. When it was installed in the 1800s, it took a cart and 16 horses to bring it to the site. Then a team of workmen spent 18 hours pulling on ropes to raise the humongous bell 300 feet in the air and place it inside the tower.