- Silk Street, Barbican Centre
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51.519799, -0.092922 (OpenStreetMap, Google Maps, Yandex Maps)
- Barbican Kitchen restaurant on the ground floor of the Centre
- Signature of an official
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Signature
Legend photo
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Historical background
Barbican Centre
Barbican has an ancient history. It began in the 1st century AD when Romans built their forts (Barbecana), some of which still remain today. These forts gave the name to the area. Centuries later, in the Elizabethan era, London’s bohemians settled this area and turned Barbican into a cultural centre. During World War II this part of London was severely bombed and largely destructed so all storage facilities and workshops were in ruins and the full area was in need of total reconstruction. The Barbican Centre, designed by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon in the Brutalist style, was officially opened to the public by Queen Elizabeth II in 1982. The Barbican Centre's design — a concrete ziggurat — has always been controversial. It was voted “London's ugliest building” in a Grey London poll in 2003. Despite this the Barbican Centre became a national cultural legacy as a Grade II listed building. This place has a big architectural value not only for its grand scale but for its unity and atmosphere.
Nevertheless since opening till now the Barbican is one of the biggest European centres of classical and modern arts: a lot of exhibitions, performances, film screenings, concerts, plays, shows and other events are held at this venue. The Barbican Centre is a complicated multi-level complex with a great number of entrances, walkways, and passages. Many of the premises here look the same so it is easy for visitors to get lost, to avoid this all walkways and paths have information pointers.
Present in routes of categories Lion-Pro, Lion-Light, Angel, Horseman
Passed by: 78/83 (94%).
By categories:
- Angel: 11/14 (79%)
- Horseman: 1/1 (100%)
- Lion-Light: 23/25 (92%)
- Lion-Pro: 43/43 (100%)