London Eye

Why go

Critical reception Sir Richard Rogers, winner of the 2007 Pritzker Architecture Prize, wrote of the London Eye in a book about the project: The Eye has done for London what the Eiffel Tower did for Paris, which is to give it a symbol and to let people climb above the city and look back down on it.

What to look for

• On the day of the announcement, the London Eye was lit in red.
• On 25 May 2005, London mayor Ken Livingstone vowed that the landmark would remain in London.
• Writing for G2 in an article from August 2007, Steve Rose described the Eye as follows: The Eye...

The full story

The structure is 443 feet tall and the wheel has a diameter of 394 feet (120 m). When erected in 1999 it was the world's tallest Ferris wheel. Its height was surpassed by the 520 feet (158 m) tall Star of Nanchang in 2006, the 541 feet (165 m) tall Singapore Flyer in 2008, and the 550 feet (168 m) High Roller (Las Vegas) in 2014. Supported by an A-frame on one side only, unlike the taller Nanchang and Singapore wheels, the Eye is described by its operators as "the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel". The London Eye adjoins the western end of Jubilee Gardens (previously the site of the former Dome of Discovery), on the South Bank of the River Thames between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.