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Wonder Tunnel Opens Deep Under The Thames

13 March 2010 03:37 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The Thames Tunnel, the brainchild of engineering geniuses Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, is open to the public for the first time in 145 years, APA reports quoting â€œSky Newsâ€.
However, access to the tunnel - described by contemporaries as "the eighth Wonder of the World" - will only last for two days.
Opened in 1852, the tunnel gripped the nationâ€™s imagination: nothing had been seen like it before and it paved the way for the present day Tube system.
Lying deep beneath the River Thames, it is one of the Brunelsâ€™ greatest engineering triumphs - and the only project they worked on together.
The tunnel is 1,300ft long and, by the end of the first week of opening, more than half the population of London had paid to walk "the shining avenue of light to Wapping".
In a show of early-day capitalism, the tunnel evolved from a railway station to an entertainment centre for the Victorian age, complete with a shopping arcade, theatre and bawdy carnivalesque sideshows.
The tunnel was so enticing that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert even engineered a trip down to the East End to see what the fuss was about.
Present-day visitors are able to take in the grand entrance hall and other architectural highlights on their return trips from Rotherhithe to Wapping, including the 1867 arch at the Rotherhithe entrance.
To go alongside the re-opening of the tunnel the Brunel Museum in Rotherhithe is recreating the 1852 Fancy Fair featuring the type of spectaculars that Victorian audiences would appreciate.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson said the tunnelâ€™s opening was "a wonderful and rare opportunity to experience one of Londonâ€™s great engineering achievements".
Robert Hulse, director of the Brunel Museum, went on to say: "This is not just the birthplace of the Tube system, it is the site of a Victorian rave.
"It is quiet now but imagine this echoing with laughter and screams of delight, and parties of people.
"Transport for London show us Brunel as a brilliant engineer, but East Festival relaunches the Thames Tunnel Fair to remind us that Victorians knew how to party."
There is a sad twist to the tale, however. The East London tube line is being opened later this year and will be going through the tunnel.
That means, at the end of the two days, the tunnel will be closed - forever.