Reading is located in Berkshire, an hour's drive west of London, on the Kenneth River. This is a fairly old city, whose history is more than 1,000 years old, and today it is quite developed. Now Reading is known for a good football team (a member of the English Premier League), several outstanding natives and, no matter how gloomy it sounds, his prison. It was here that Oscar Wilde was imprisoned and wrote his confession "From the Depths," and it was this penitentiary that he glorified in his "Ballade of Reading Prison" after his release.

How to get to Reading

It's hard to get to Reading from London, having such a desire. It is a large city on the Old Batsk road (federal highway A4 to Avonmaut). This is an important railway junction and cargo terminal. It is a loaded river port on the Thames and Kennet. And from London Heathrow to Reading there is a RailAir bus.

A bit of history

The settlement on the site of the present Reading was born in the 8th century, and after the founding of the abbey Benedictines in the 12th century the city began to develop here . In the 16th century it was one of the largest in the country, and two centuries later it became an industrial center due to the nearby deposits of iron ore . Nowadays, about one and a half live in the city hundreds of thousands of people, but, walking along the busy streets, you might think, h then in fact the residents here a couple of times . The fact is that a popular university was opened in Reading, once part of the Oxford and now an independent university . At its base there is the famous school of economics ICMA . Young people come here from the many cities of Central England, forming a lively, youthful and active look of the city .

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Entertainment, sightseeing and sightseeing Reading

Reading can boast five buildings that are classified as protected architectural and historical monuments of the first degree. This abbey, the Abbey Gate, the Church of St. Lawrence and Greyfriars, as well as Minster (St. Mary's Church). In general, the architecture of the city has a lot of styles and currents, from the Middle Ages to the present day of the 21st century

The Abbey from which Henry I began the formation of Reading is now nothing more than ruins . @ Nevertheless, here you can see a relatively well-preserved church, a section of the wall at the main entrance and a mill . In the summer, in ruins, theater plays are put on Shakespeare's stories . But in the mid-19th century, the abbey surrounded the green Victorian park of Forbury G which remained unchanged . In the center of the park in 1884 . was installed a large stone lion of Mayvend - an unofficial symbol of the city, a monument to soldiers who put their lives on the altar of the colonial policy of the state in the 19th century .

Abbat Gate - this is an internal gate that adjoins the Royal Court building and the Forbury Gardens. In the Middle Ages, the gate served as a neutral territory for the meeting of monks and laymen. Like the abbey itself, the gates were badly affected by the time, and even more - by the storm in 1861: they almost collapsed and in 2010 they were closed to visit, as stones began to fall from the top.

The Church of St. Lawrence was built during the Norman rule, but was rebuilt in the 12th century, then 15 19 centuries. Its constructive feature was an impressive three-story tower, built in the middle of the 15th century. Inside the church, several curious objects have survived: in particular, the John Blagrave memorial, the 16th-century English mathematician. Today the church belongs to the missionaries

Greyfriars is an evangelical Anglican church founded in the 13th century by the monks of the Order of St. Francis and the oldest functioning Franciscan church in the UK. At the same time, it is also considered the best preserved of the church Franciscan buildings in the country. In 2000, the interior of the church was completely rebuilt, and the Victorian benches replaced with modern furniture

Minster, or the Church of the Holy Virgin Mary, considered the oldest religious building in Reading . After the abbey's decline, it became of paramount importance in the spiritual life of the city . Today is an Anglican church that should not be confused with another St. Mary's Church in Castle Street, which is only a few meters away . The first chapel on the site of Minster was built in the 7th century, and the bulk of the current building dates from the late 11th century m . During the Reformation the church lost the altar, stained-glass windows and statues, and in the 16th century she already needed a serious reconstruction . In 1918 . the memorial chapel of St. Edward was attached to the building, and the last restoration work here ended only in 2003 г . Today, the bells are installed on the bell tower, the oldest of which was cast in 1640 g .; and Minster's body was created in 1862 by . Henry Willys-father and rebuilt by his company in 1936 .

Also noteworthy is the St. James Roman Catholic Church in the city center, near the ruins of the abbey, the mid-19th century buildings and the pointed St. Gilles church, built in the 12th century to south of the channel for the flock, which was too far to reach the Church of the Holy Virgin. Among the other noteworthy buildings is the 12th century school, one of the 16 oldest in England, a 19th-century university, the building of the Royal Hospital of the 19th century from the Bathonian sandstone.

The cultural treasures of Reading are kept in several museums: in particular, historical, open in the second half of 19 century in the old beautiful building of the Town Hall of the 18-19th centuries built . Here you can find expositions connected with the history of Reading and Kaleva, as well as the tapestry from Bayeux (with the only copy in the world) and the Huntley & Palmers factory . Also in the city there is a Zoological m Uzle Cole and the Harris Botanical Garden, both on the campus of the Whitneyt University . In the Berkshire Air Museum in the suburbs of Woodley, you can see a collection of airplanes that were produced in the city .

Two of the most curious of its unusual museums are Museum of Greek Archeology Ure and the Historical Museum of Provincial Life in the eastern part of the city, in the former East Thorpe Estate. Both museums are run by the Reading University. The first one contains one of the most important collections of Greek ancient art in the whole Kingdom. The second museum has photos, archives, films, books and a variety of items: more than 22,000 exhibits over the last 200 years. A visit to both museums is free of charge.

In summer, the city can perfectly rest on the fresh air, combining it with a visit to a number of events. In Reading, more than 100 parks and playgrounds, and in summer many hold open-air concerts. In June, the city hosts a carnival in Prospect Park and a charity Hospital show with free entrance to concerts and circus performances. At the end of the month you are waited by the festival of water, and in the middle of summer - a great jazz open air. Also among the annual events are equestrian competitions and yacht regatta