The observation wheel, which offers visitors a 30-minute ride in a glass pod, was supposed to stand for five years before being dismantled, but its popularity led to it being made a permanent fixture on the River Thames last year
Tourists wanting a bird’s eye view of Big Ben, St Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace have put the London Eye in the ranks of the city’s most visited attractions since it was opened 25 years ago on Sunday.
The observation wheel, which offers visitors a 30-minute ride in a glass pod, was supposed to stand for five years before being dismantled, but its popularity led to it being made a permanent fixture on the River Thames last year.
On a clear day, tourists riding the wheel can spot Windsor Castle, the royal family’s 900 year-old home 40 kilometers away, while for Britons it has become synonymous with the city’s fireworks on New Year’s Eve.
The wheel was the idea of husband and wife architects David Marks and Julia Barfield to celebrate the millennium. Its shape symbolises the cycle of life.
“A circle has no beginning and no end. It is symbolic of the passing of time,” Barfield told Reuters, adding that when it opened, it was one of the few options for a view of London from a height.
Since it started operating, the city’s skyline has been transformed by new skyscrapers that can be viewed from the wheel. All named after their shapes, The Gherkin opened in 2004, the Shard, London’s tallest building, followed in 2013 and the Cheesegrater in 2014.
About 3.5 million people pay from 29 pounds per ticket to ride the London Eye each year.
Its popularity has inspired dozens of copycat wheels in cities around the world, but at 135 metres tall, the London Eye remains the world’s largest cantilevered observation wheel.
The architects’ plan was for the attraction to revitalise a part of London’s South Bank, and 1% of the attraction’s annual revenues are paid to help maintain the public area around.
Architect Julia Barfield is still giddy that the London Eye ferris wheel has become a symbol of the city. The initial priority was finding a breathtaking way to see the British capital, she said inside one of its 32 glass pods as it drifted against the backdrop of the Houses of Parliament.
Built to mark the turn of the millennium in 2000, it has since established itself as one of the country’s most visited paid attractions. Each year around 3.5 million tourists take in its panoramic views on half-hour trips.
Stamped on souvenirs, sketched by street artists and snapped in an endless stream of selfies, the Eye has become nearly as big a landmark as Big Ben. But it’s future wasn’t always so assured.
Barfield said she and co-architect David Marks, her late husband, spent years scrambling to get funding for the ambitious project, while several nail-biting construction hitches threatened to derail their vision.
Back at the turn of the millennium, when Londoners were talking about the Y2K computer bug scare and Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time” had been the year’s best-selling single, the Eye was the largest ferris wheel in the world.
It was originally meant to be a temporary, five-year installation, and had already been turned down in a competition seeking designs for a millennial landmark. But the two architects rallied support and decided to build it anyway, rushing to complete the project in the years before the turn of the millennium.
“I would never have predicted that it could be still here in 25 years, still taking people up to celebrate London — which is basically what the project was all about,” Barfield said.
Similar observation wheels are now a fixture in cities around the world, but even today the Eye’s cantilevered design stands out, wowing spectators on the South Bank where the 120-metre-wide wheel leans at an astonishing angle over the Thames. The architects had always hoped to build a feeling of excitement into the structure. Barfield said she wanted visitors to say: “Wow, how did they do that?”
But the unusual design required a number of innovations, including special curved glass for the pods brought in from Venice. At one point, parts were floated up the River Thames and builders worked on the water to assemble the giant wheel.
With techniques previously used to set up North Sea oil rigs, it was slowly hoisted upright — but the cables broke loose and the project had to be delayed. Other technical problems meant the public had to wait a few months to try it out. But in March 2000 the Eye joined a wave of new buildings in the British capital to welcome the dawn of a new era — including the Millennium Dome, the Millennium Bridge and the Tate Modern gallery.
