Horse Guards Parade

Horse Guards Parade is a large parade ground next to Whitehall in Central London . At this location are the annual ceremonies of Trooping the Colour and Beating Retreatheld.

At this location were once knight tournaments held in the time of Henry VIII . It was also here birthday Elizabeth I celebrated.

Since the 17th century, the area was used for all kinds of parades and other ceremonies. Once it was also the headquarters of the British army established. The Duke of Wellington was stationed at Horse Guards when he was Commander-in-Chief was in the British Army. The current General Officer Commanding London District still uses the same office and the same office . During the twentieth century, the area was used as a parking lot for officials, but to this end came in the 90s . This process was driven by themortar attack by the Provisional IRA at 10 Downing Street from a vehicle that was parked on Horse Guards Avenue near Horse Guards Parade. Vehicles may now no more parking in the area.

Monuments
Around the parade ground is a number of monuments that recall the military history of Great Britain :
 * Statues of the Field Marshals Kitchener , Roberts and Wolseley
 * A Turkish cannon made ​​in 1524 that in 1801 in Egypt was looted
 * The Cádiz Memorial, a French mortar mounted on a cast-iron Chinese dragon on the occasion of ending the siege of Cádiz in Spain in 1812
 * The Guards Memorial, designed by sculptor Gilbert Ledward in 1923-26 to commemorate the First Battle of Ypres and other battles of the First World War . [1]
 * In 2003 became the Royal Naval Division Memorial, designed by Edwin Lutyens in 1925, returned to its original location on Horse Guards Parade.

2012 Summer Olympics [ edit ]
Horse Guards Parade was used as the venue for the games of beach volleyball at the 2012 Summer Olympics, which took place in London. There were two temporary playgrounds built with a capacity of 12,000 and 5,000 spectators.