Trip to Birmingham

25 Jan 2011

Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. It is the most populous British city outside London, with a population of 1,028,701 (2009 estimate), and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the United Kingdom's second most populous urban area with a population of 2,284,093 (2001 census). Birmingham's metropolitan area, which includes surrounding towns to which it is closely tied through commuting, is also the United Kingdom's second most populous with a population of 3,683,000. Birmingham was a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution in England, a fact which led to it being known as "the workshop of the world" or the "city of a thousand trades". Although Birmingham's industrial importance has declined, it has developed into a national commercial centre, being named in 2010 as the third-best place in the United Kingdom to locate a business. Birmingham is a national hub for conferences, retail and events along with an established high tech, research and development sector, supported by its three Universities. It is also the fourth-most visited city by foreign visitors in the UK, has the second-largest city economy in the UK. Birmingham is ranked as a gamma- world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. It is commonly believed that the name 'Birmingham' comes from "Beorma inga ham", meaning farmstead of the sons (or descendants) of Beorma.

Birmingham Town HalBirmingham Town Hall is a Grade I listed concert and meeting venue in Victoria Square, Birmingham 1, England. It was created as a home for the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival established in 1784, the purpose of which was to raise funds for the General Hospital, after St Philip's Church (later to become a Cathedral) became too small to hold the festival, and for public meetings. Between 2002 and 2008, it was refurbished into a concert hall and is now used for performances as diverse as organ recitals, rock, pop and classical concerts and events such as graduation ceremonies for Aston University.

Birmingham Council HouseBirmingham City Council House in Birmingham, England is the home of Birmingham City Council. It provides office accommodation for both employed council officers, including the Chief Executive, and elected council members, plus the council chamber, Lord Mayor's Suite, committee rooms and a large and ornate banqueting suite, complete with minstrels' gallery. The first-floor's exterior balcony is used by visiting dignitaries and victorious sports teams, to address crowds assembled below. It is located in Victoria Square in the city centre and is a Grade II* listed building. (Birmingham Town Hall is a separate building, built and used as a concert venue, and is of greater architectural significance, being listed Grade I.) The Council House has its own postcode, B1 1BB.
Birmingham Central Library

Big BrumBig Brum is the local name for the clock tower on the Council House, Birmingham, England. The clock tower is sufficiently important in the public consciousness of Birmingham people that it has a name. Brum is the local term for the town, the people and the dialect. The name refers to the clock and tower, not only the bell. The bell rings with Westminster Chimes similar to Big Ben in London.

Birmingham Museum and Art GalleryBirmingham Museum & Art Gallery (BM&AG) (grid reference SP066869) is an art gallery in Birmingham, England. Entrance to the Museum and Art Gallery is free, but some major exhibitions in the Gas Hall incur an entrance fee. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, archaeology, ethnography, local history and industrial history.

Ikon GalleryThe Ikon Gallery (grid reference SP060866) is an English gallery of contemporary art, located in Brindleyplace, Birmingham. It is housed in the Grade II listed, neo-gothic former Oozells Street Board School, designed by John Henry Chamberlain in 1877. The gallery's current director is Jonathan Watkins. Ikon was set-up to encourage the public to engage in contemporary art. As a result of this, the gallery runs an off-site 'Education and Interpretation' scheme that educates audiences, promotes artists and their art. The gallery is open every day of the week except Mondays, though it opens on bank holiday Mondays.

Symphony Hall
Symphony Hall is a 2,262 seat concert venue located inside the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Birmingham, England. It was officially opened by the Queen in June 1991, although had been opened on April 15, 1991. It is home to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and hosts around 270 events a year. It was completed at a cost of £30 million. The hall's interior is modelled upon the Musikverein in Vienna and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In addition to concerts, the venue is also used for community events, graduation ceremonies and conferences. Symphony Hall's acoustic, widely considered one of the finest in the world, was designed by Percy Thomas Partnership and Renton Howard Wood Levin, (who together formed the Convention Centre Partnership for the ICC) with specialist help from Russell Johnson of Artec Consultants Inc.. A particularly innovative feature is the hall's acoustic flexibility. It has a reverberation chamber behind the orchestra and extending high along the sides, adding 50% to the hall's volume, the doors to which can be remotely opened or closed. The U-shaped reverberation chamber area has a volume of 12,700 cubic metres (450,000 cu ft). There is an acoustic canopy which can be raised or lowered above the orchestra. Dampening panels can be extended or retracted to ensure that the 'sound' of the space is perfectly matched to the scale and style of the music to be performed. There are also reverse fan walls at the rear of the hall which provide further reflections of sound. All the walls and the ceiling are 200 millimetres (8 in) thick and are made of concrete.

BullringBullring is a major commercial area of Birmingham, England. It has been an important feature of Birmingham since the Middle Ages, when its market was first held. It has been developed into a shopping centre twice; first in the 1960s, and then in 2003.The site is located on the edge of the sandstone city ridge which results in the steep gradient towards Digbeth. The slope drops approximately 15 metres (49 ft) from New Street to St Martin's Church. The current shopping centre was the busiest in the United Kingdom in 2004 with 36.5 million visitors. It houses one of only four Selfridges department stores, the fourth largest Debenhams and the first Forever 21 store in Europe. Consequently, the centre has been a huge success, attracting custom from all over the world, including New York.

St. Philip's CathedralThe Cathedral Church of Saint Philip is the Church of England cathedral and the seat of the Bishop of Birmingham. Built as a parish church and consecrated in 1715, St Philip's became the cathedral of the newly-formed Diocese of Birmingham in the West Midlands in 1905. St Philip's was built in the early 18th century in the Baroque style by Thomas Archer and is located on Colmore Row, Birmingham, England. The cathedral is a Grade I listed building. St Philip's is the third smallest cathedral in England after Derby and Chelmsford.

St Martin in the Bull RingIt is the original parish church of Birmingham. It stands between the Bull Ring shopping centre and the markets. The church is a Grade II* listed building. The current Rector is the Revd. Canon Stewart W. Jones.

Source: Wikipedia