Big Ben Goes Quiet for Four Years of Repairs

(via Atlas Obscura) The bongs will soon be gone.  Big Ben — the huge clock bell of Britain’s Parliament — will fall silent next week as a four-year restoration project gets underway. The bongs of the iconic bell will be stopped after chiming noon, today, Aug. 21 to protect workers during a 29-million-pound ($38 million) repair project on the Queen Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben and its clock. It isn’t due to resume regular service until 2021.