The Tower of London is genuinely worth visiting. The Crown Jewels exhibit specifically, after eighteen years of taking visitors there, is the part I now actively suggest people skip
By Fiona MacLeod. With travel input from Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat.
The Tower of London is genuinely one of the most interesting tourist attractions in the United Kingdom. It contains nearly a thousand years of accumulated history, several genuinely remarkable buildings, an excellent set of Yeoman Warder tours, and a ravens-and-medieval-armour combination that almost no other site in Europe matches. I have taken visitors there approximately 47 times across my fourteen years in London. I will, on present trajectories, take visitors there approximately 47 more times before I retire.
The Crown Jewels exhibit specifically, however, is the part of the Tower visit that I now actively suggest people skip. The suggestion surprises many visitors, who arrive expecting that the Crown Jewels are the principal reason to come. The suggestion is, on the basis of my actual experience taking visitors through the exhibit eighteen times since 2012, broadly correct. This article explains why, and what I recommend doing with the time you save.
What The Crown Jewels Visit Actually Involves
The Crown Jewels visit, in its current operational form, involves the following sequence. You queue, in many cases for between 30 and 60 minutes depending on the time of year. You enter the Jewel House. You walk through a series of pre-display galleries that present various contextualising material about the British monarchy and the regalia. You arrive at the principal display chamber, which contains the actual Crown Jewels in a series of glass cases. You proceed past the display chamber on a moving travelator that moves at a fixed pace and that does not stop. You exit through the gift shop.
The total time you spend looking at the actual Crown Jewels is, in practical terms, approximately two minutes. The travelator moves at a pace calibrated to the visitor flow, which means that you cannot pause to look more closely at any specific item. The lighting is bright but the cases are small enough that detailed examination of the regalia is, in operational terms, not really possible. You see the items. You move past them. You exit.
The two-minute viewing experience represents, after the queueing and the contextual galleries, an investment of approximately 90 minutes for the average visitor. The 90 minutes are real. They are, in operational terms, the cost of seeing the Crown Jewels. The cost is, on careful examination, substantially out of proportion to the experience.
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Why The Experience Disappoints
The experience disappoints, in the experience of nearly every visitor I have taken through it, for reasons that are not about the regalia themselves. The regalia are genuinely remarkable. The St Edward’s Crown is a piece of historical metalwork of substantial cultural significance. The Imperial State Crown contains the Cullinan II diamond, which is one of the largest cut diamonds in existence. The Sovereign’s Sceptre contains the Cullinan I diamond, which is the largest. The objects are, in absolute terms, worth seeing.
The experience disappoints because the operational arrangements for viewing the objects systematically prevent the kind of engaged viewing that the objects would reward. The travelator pace, the queue-driven crowd density, the bright but uninflected lighting, and the limited time at the display together produce a viewing experience that is, in operational practice, more like a security-cleared corridor than an actual museum encounter with significant objects.
The arrangement is not, by any reasonable analysis, the fault of the people who manage the Tower. The arrangement is the predictable consequence of accommodating approximately 2.7 million annual visitors through a single display space. The visitor numbers require the throughput. The throughput requires the travelator. The travelator prevents the engaged viewing.
What I Recommend Instead
What I recommend instead is to spend the 90 minutes at one of three alternative experiences within the Tower itself, all of which provide substantially more rewarding engagement with the underlying historical material.
The first alternative is the Yeoman Warder tour. The tours run approximately every 30 minutes throughout the day and last approximately 60 minutes. The Yeoman Warders are the Tower’s resident guides and are, in nearly every case, substantially more knowledgeable about the Tower’s history than any audio guide or written display can communicate. The tours are funny, irreverent, historically substantive, and free with Tower admission. They are, in my experience, the single best individual element of the Tower visit.
The second alternative is the Royal Armouries collection in the White Tower, which contains a substantial collection of medieval and early modern arms and armour. The collection is, in absolute terms, more historically rich than the Crown Jewels. The displays are not on a travelator. You can spend as much time as you want with any specific item. The collection includes Henry VIII’s actual armour, which is, in operational terms, more directly evocative of the historical period than the regalia are.
The third alternative is the Tower’s medieval palace rooms, which were the residence of medieval monarchs during their stays at the Tower. The rooms have been substantially restored and contain reconstructions of the actual living arrangements of the period. The reconstruction work is impressive. The historical material is presented at a pace that allows actual engagement. The rooms are typically substantially less crowded than the Crown Jewels exhibit.
The Time Calculation
The time calculation across these alternatives is roughly as follows. The Yeoman Warder tour takes 60 minutes. The Royal Armouries can be done in 30 to 90 minutes depending on your interest level. The medieval palace rooms can be done in 30 to 60 minutes. Taking all three takes approximately the same time as the Crown Jewels visit, with substantially more rewarding content per minute of investment.
If you want to do the Crown Jewels in addition to the alternatives, you can. I have taken approximately 22 visitors through the full sequence including the Crown Jewels. The visitors have, in nearly every case, characterised the Crown Jewels portion as the least rewarding part of the visit. The characterisation is, on the basis of my own observation, accurate.
The Counter-Argument
The counter-argument to skipping the Crown Jewels is that you have, in operational terms, come all the way to London and the Crown Jewels are one of the things London is famous for. The argument has emotional weight. It does not have, on careful examination, much practical weight. The Crown Jewels are, in operational practice, less of an experience than people anticipate.
If your visit is your only visit to London and you specifically want to be able to say that you have seen the Crown Jewels, by all means do the visit. The visit is not, in absolute terms, harmful. It is, however, less rewarding than the alternatives I have described. The choice is yours. I am simply telling you, on the basis of substantial accumulated experience, what I would actually recommend.
An ongoing analysis at Time Out London has examined comparable cost-benefit assessments for other major London attractions.
What I Tell My Visiting Friends
What I tell my visiting friends, when they ask whether they should do the Crown Jewels, is the following. The Tower of London is absolutely worth visiting. The Crown Jewels are a specific exhibit within the Tower whose operational arrangements substantially limit the experience. The Yeoman Warder tour, the Royal Armouries, and the medieval palace rooms are all, in absolute terms, more rewarding individual experiences than the Crown Jewels visit. If you have time for all of them, including the Crown Jewels, do all of them. If you have time for some of them but not all, prioritise the others.
The Final Note
The final note is that the recommendation above applies to the Tower of London specifically. It does not apply to the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, which contains different regalia in a substantially less crowded setting and which I generally recommend to visitors interested in royal historical objects. It does not apply to the State Apartments at Windsor Castle, which I also generally recommend. The Crown Jewels at the Tower are a specific case, with specific operational characteristics that the alternatives do not share.
Plan accordingly. Save the 90 minutes for the parts of the Tower visit that will actually reward your investment. Do the Crown Jewels only if you have time after the better experiences. More from Fiona MacLeod.
Related at The Poke.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/skip-crown-jewels-do-this-instead/
