This Is London - May Holiday 2017

14
UK PARLIAMENT TO MARK
‘LONDON HISTORY DAY’
The Houses of Parliament remains
open to visitors in the period before the
UK General Election on 8 June with
eight extra tour dates added. To
encourage young adults to engage with
the democratic process, all UK ‘young
voters’ currently aged 18 to 24 can book
a free place on one of the tours.
On Wednesday 31 May, the UK
Parliament will take part in the first ever
London History Day with a series of
events on the theme ‘1,000 years of
history... where history is still being
written’. Visitors will have the chance to
attend a free talk about the Elizabeth
Tower by one of the clockmakers.
Families visiting with children can take
one of the ‘London History’ themed
family tours around Parliament.
A wider audience can have a ‘behind
the scenes’ look at rarely seen Londonthemed
objects in Parliament’s Heritage
Collections on social media throughout
the day. Objects which will be
highlighted include the Ceremonial
Silver Trowel used to lay the first stone
of the Elizabeth Tower and photographs
of the damage caused by air raids on the
Houses of Parliament during the Blitz.
Houses of Parliament, c.1900 Parliamentary Archives.
London History Day highlights the
capital’s extraordinary history and heritage
and is part of Historic England’s wider
‘Keep it London’ campaign which aims to
get the public to notice, celebrate and
speak up for the heritage in their city. Last
year, Historic England polled Londoners
about when they thought would be the
best date for London History Day. The day
when Big Ben first started keeping time in
1859 was chosen from a selection of 10
key moments in the city’s history. The
Houses of Parliament and Big Ben were
voted as the place that best sums up
London.
By participating in this event,
Parliament will promote that it is open to
UK and international visitors. The Palace
of Westminster is home to one of the
world’s busiest parliaments, with more
than a million visitors, including 70,000
school children, passing through its
doors each year. Visitors are welcome to
watch debates and committee hearings
or take an audio or guided tour
throughout the year. Tickets can be
purchased by calling 020 7219 4114,
online at www.parliament.uk/visit or in
person from the Ticket Office at the front
of Portcullis House on Victoria
Embankment.
ALBERTO GIACOMETTI AT
TATE MODERN
Tate Modern is presenting the UK’s first
major retrospective of Alberto Giacometti
(1901-1966) for 20 years. Celebrated as a
sculptor, painter and draughtsman,
Giacometti’s distinctive elongated figures
are some of the most instantly
recognisable works of modern art.
This exhibition reasserts Giacometti’s
place alongside the likes of Matisse,
Picasso and Degas as one of the great
painter-sculptors of the 20th century.
Through unparalleled access to the
extraordinary collection and archive of
the Fondation Alberto et Annette
Giacometti, Paris, Tate Modern’s
ambitious and wide-ranging exhibition
brings together over 250 works. It
includes rarely seen plasters and
drawings which have never been
exhibited before and showcases the full
evolution of Giacometti’s career across
five decades, from early works such as
Head of a Woman [Flora Mayo] 1926 to
iconic bronze sculptures such as
Walking Man I 1960.
While Giacometti is best known for
his bronze figures, Tate Modern is
repositioning him as an artist with a far
wider interest in materials and textures,
especially plaster and clay.
Man Pointing.
t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e