The Tower of London is a magnificent fortress with many stratum of history. This has become one of the symbols of royalty. It was built around the White Tower.
It was build on the Thames by William the Conqueror to protect London and assert his power.
According to the History, The Tower of London is one of the capital's most iconic buildings, attracting more than two million visitors a year.
However, it began as a tourist attraction only from the Victorian era. Prior to that, the Tower of London is just about everything else.
It served as a fortress, a Royal residence, a home for the Royal Mint and the Crown Jewels, a storehouse for military weapons and a infamous prison.
As compiled by Travel and Leisure, the Tower of London is not just about the purported Royal treasures hidden inside.
The following are the more astonishing facts and well-kept secrets unveiled:
The Tower of London doubled as the Mint
For 500 years, beginning in 1279, the Tower of London guarded the country's Mint. Until 1663, coins were hammered by hand. It protects $32 billion worth of treasure
Animals once called the Tower home
The tower was a zoo for exotic animals long before it became a prison. Founded by King John as a royal menagerie in 1210, the gallery's various residents included lions, ostrich, elephants, and even a polar bear.
A sorcerer was imprisoned in the 1500's
Accordingly, an innkeeper from Bristol named Hew Draper has been one of the tower's inmates.
Based on reports by the Guardian, Hew Draper was a 16th-century Bristol innkeeper who got sent to the Tower for attempted sorcery.
He claimed that although he had been interested in magic, he had burnt all his magical books. However, his engravings, cut into the very stone of the Salt Tower, reveal he knew plenty about the occult.
It wasn't as deadly as it sounds
Notwithstanding all the legendary tales of torment, only 22 people were actually executed inside the Tower's walls.
The last person killed on the tower is a German spy named Josef Jakobs. He was shot by a firing squad on August 15, 1941.
The ravens are the Tower's guardians
Charles II persisted that the resident ravens should be protected. He foresaw that if the ravens departed, the kingdom and the Tower would fall.
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