London [English l ʌ ndən], capital of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in southern England, with (2017) 8,830,000 residents (Urban Area 10.5 million residents) and 1,572 km 2 one of the largest Cities of Europe.
Since 1965 made restructuring and expansion through incorporations London is made up of only 2.9 km 2 large City of London, the old town center, and 32 London boroughs, the boroughs. The current urban area was formed from the 1888-1965 existing County London, which included the City of London and 28 Metropolitan Boroughs (today together Inner London), from almost the entire area of the 1965 dissolved County Middlesex and parts of the adjacent Counties Surrey, Kent, Essex and Hertfordshire (now together Outer London). The Greater London Council (Greater London) was dissolved again in 1986. The Greater London Authority, consisting of the Mayor and the Assembly for London, was established by the Greater London Act (1999).
According to softwareleverage, London lies in a tertiary basin (London Basin) on both sides of the Thames, 75 km above its mouth. The historical city center, the City, and some of the northern areas of London rise up on terraces that protrude from the north to the Thames. The surface ranges from 5 m above sea level to 134 m above sea level (Hampstead). – To the climate data for London, Great Britain and Northern Ireland (climate diagram).
Administrative and cultural institutions
London is the royal residence, seat of government, parliament and the central courts and authorities, the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican Bishop of London and a Catholic Archbishop. In London there are synagogues and Jewish cultural centers, an Islamic and a Buddhist cultural center.
The oldest university is the University of London (1836 national examination rights) with several largely autonomous colleges and institutes (including the London School of Economics and Political Science). City University emerged from Northampton College of Advanced Technology in 1966. Imperial College (founded in 1907) is a technical college and university. The most important art schools are the University of the Arts and the Royal College of Art. In addition to other universities, colleges and colleges, there are also several international universities in London, e.g. Schiller International University (founded in 1964). London is the seat of scientific and artistic societies such as the British Academy, Royal Society, Royal Geographical Society. The national library is the British Library.
The many museums include the British Museum, Cortauld Institute Galleries, Imperial War Museum, National Gallery, London Dungeon, National Maritime Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, TateModern and Tate Britain, Victoria & Albert Museum, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London Museum, Madame Tussaud’s wax museum, Wallace Collection, the Film Museum opened in 2008 and the Design Museum opened in 1989. In addition to the two opera houses (Royal Opera House Covent Garden, English National Opera), the Royal National Theater and the Old Vic Theater, there are a variety of other theaters. Well-known orchestras are Philharmonia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields chamber orchestra. The botanical (Kew Gardens; World Heritage Site) and zoological gardens (in Regent’s Park) are important research sites.
Transportation
London is a center of world air traffic and the most important national transport hub. Central London has a morning commuters of around 2 million. Around 86% of commuters come by public transport. The main modes of transport within London are buses and the underground (402 km length, 270 stations). The Thames is crossed by 18 road and nine railway bridges between the Tower of London in the east and Richmond in the west. The Blackwall and Dartford tunnels are important connections in national road traffic. The 188 km long ring motorway (M 25), which was completed in 1986 and runs outside the city limits with the exception of Havering (in the north-east), made a significant contribution to improving London’s traffic conditions. Due to the high and continuously increasing volume of traffic in the inner-city areas, the so-called “congestion charge zone” was set up in central London in February 2003, which has already led to a 15 to 20% reduction in traffic. Since the Canal Tunnel was completed in 1994, London (Victoria Station) has been connected to the European rapid transit network. In 2017, the operating company Eurostar carried 10.3 million passengers (around 80% of all travelers in rail and air traffic between Paris and London). In world air traffic, the airport takes Heathrow, with its four terminals and (2017) 78 million passengers, is one of the leaders. Gatwick International Airport has a passenger volume of 45.6 million, other airports are Stansted, London City and Luton.
The Port of London extends around 150 km between Margate (Kent) / Clacton-on-Sea (Essex) in the east and Teddington near Richmond upon Thames in the west along the Thames with tidal influence. At more than 70 operated loading bays, its turnover amounts to around 43 million t per year. Technically obsolete and difficult to reach for ships with greater drafts, the large 19th-century dock facilities east of Tower Bridge (Docklands) were gradually closed between 1967 and 1981. The development of the port took place further down the topic beyond the city limits, among other things. with the construction of the Tilbury container port (now with improved deep-sea functionality). A deep-sea terminal (“London Gateway”) is under construction on the former site of the oil refinery near Shell Haven.
London Basin
London Basin, London Basin, Eocene Basin in south-east England, in the area of the Thames lowland; the subsoil is formed by chalk limestone that plunges under the tertiary layers from the Chiltern Hills in the north and reappears in the North Downs of the Weald bulge in the south. The city of London lies in the deepest part of the basin.
London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra [ l ʌ ndən s ɪ mfəni ɔ ː k ɪ strə], the oldest independent British Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1904 by members of the Queen’s Hall Orchestra.
Short story: H. Richter (1904–11) was the first chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra; Artistic home has been the concert hall of the Barbican Center since 1982. After decades of frequent changes of conductor (including E. Elgar, A. Nikisch, T. Beecham, W. Mengelberg), J. Krips took over the direction in 1950 (until 1954); he was followed by, among others. P. Monteux (1961-64), A. Previn (1968-79), C. Abbado (1979-87), M. Tilson Thomas (1988-95) and C. Davis (1995-2006). 2007–15 was headed by W. A. Gergiew the London Symphony Orchestra. He was followed by S. Rattle in September 2017.
Repertoire: The orchestra maintains an extremely diverse repertoire which, in addition to the traditional concert canon and world premieres of works by contemporary (British) composers such as A. Bliss, Elgar, R. Vaughan Williams, M. Tippett and W. Walton, is also active across borders. It has recorded numerous soundtracks since 1935, including on “Henry” V “(1944, German” Heinrich V. “),” The Man Who Knew Too Much “(1955, German” The man who knew too much “),” Star Wars “(1977),” Shadowlands ” (1993), “Notting Hill” (1999), “The Queen” (2006) and “The King’s Speech” (2011) as well as several Harry Potter books -Film. The London Symphony Orchestra is also considered a pioneer of classic rock and has also interpreted music by pop bands such as the Beatles, Jethro Tull, ABBA and Queen. New initiatives at the beginning of the 21st century were the company’s own record label LSO Live, founded in 2000, and the program for children and young people, LSO Discovery, launched in 2003.