The Same Exact Locations In England After 125 Years

London – Victoria Embankment

Image credits: onstride
There’s a surprisingly ancient piece of history in these photos: the obelisk in centre-frame is the 3,500-year old ‘Cleopatra’s Needle’ offered by Egypt to Britain as a gift in the 19th century AD. It remains sadly overlooked in 2019 as officials resist pressure to celebrate the 200 year anniversary of the gesture. Waterloo Bridge beyond is a far newer landmark but with a more eventful history: the version in the Victorian photo was demolished in the 1930s, and rebuilt by a team of women during the Blitz (it took a while for their story to emerge due to statements like then-Deputy Prime Minister Herbert Morrison’s: “the men that built Waterloo Bridge are fortunate men.”) It was the only Thames River bridge to incur damage from German bombs. More recently, it was the site of the major global warming protests of Extinction Rebellion.