LONDON — It’s so long to Big Ben’s bongs — at least temporarily.
British officials announced Tuesday that the famous bell of Parliament will fall silent for several months during repairs to its crumbling clock tower.
The work, due to begin in January 2017 and last three years, is the biggest repair job on the tower for decades — and Steve Jaggs, Parliament’s Keeper of the Great Clock, said it can’t wait much longer.
“The tower is not unstable,” he said. “But unless we do something now it’s going to get a lot worse.
“We need to do the work pretty soon to keep this for future generations to enjoy.”
Jaggs said the 29 million pound ($42 million) renovation will include work to repair corrosion to the cast-iron roof and to stop water seepage that threatens to damage the stonework on the iconic 160-year-old building.
The huge clock, which has run almost uninterrupted since 1859, will be stopped for several months so that Parliament’s clockmakers can work on the spring that holds the 13-foot pendulum and remove the hands from each of the four faces.
The 15.1 ton Big Ben bell will cease to sound the hours while the clock is stopped, and will be cleaned and checked for cracks.
Officially named the Elizabeth Tower in honor of Queen Elizabeth II, the structure is one of London’s most famous landmarks. It became a symbol of defiance when it survived German bombing raids during World War II — though one of the four clock faces was blown out.
The tower is popularly known as Big Ben, though that is actually the name of the largest of its five bells. The four smaller bells chime the quarter hours, while Big Ben bongs out the hour.
The sound of the bongs became associated with Britain around the world during wartime BBC news broadcasts, and is still played live each day on BBC radio.
Jaggs said workers will make sure that Big Ben still chimes at midnight on New Year’s Eve throughout the renovations.
The repair work will use traditional methods and materials as much as possible, but a couple of modernizations are planned.
