The hourly chimes of Big Ben are to fall silent for a month while maintenance work is carried out on one of London’s most famous landmarks, officials said on Wednesday.
Work will include replacing the strike train, which controls the hourly bell and the going train, which operates the clock.
The clock tower at Westminster’s Houses of Parliament will be silenced starting on Saturday morning until September, with the work expected to take between four and six weeks.
For the most part, the clock will continue to work, although it will be stopped for several hours on Saturday for part of the maintenance.
The work, which takes place every five years, is the final phase of a programme to maintain the clock ahead of its 150th anniversary in 2009. — AFP