The View from The Shard

The View from The Shard is a tourist attraction based in London's tallest building, The Shard. The attraction offers visitors views from the skyscraper, with two viewing platforms inside the building: the first is a triple level indoor gallery on Level 69, and the second is a partially outdoor gallery on Level 72.

The attraction also has a ground floor gift shop as well as 'The Sky Boutique,' on Level 68, with limited edition souvenirs. It is the highest shop in London.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson officially opened The View from The Shard on Friday 1 February 2013 in a grand ribbon cutting ceremony. Over 5,000 people paid for tickets to be the first to experience the views of London on the launch day, including James Episcou from Epping Forest, Essex who took the chance to be the first to propose to his girlfriend from the highest point in London. Shortly after the opening, The Guardian released an interactive expanded panorama of London to allow users to explore the views from the observation deck online, augmented with ambient sounds of the city.

The entrance to The View From the Shard is on Joiner Street near London Bridge Station. After entering the lobby and passing through security, there is an opportunity for visitors to have a photograph taken in front of a green screen, onto which a view from The Shard is superimposed, which can be purchased at the end of the experience.

Along the walls of the lobby, animated maps and video screens set the historic context of The Shard's London Bridge location. Films and animations also highlight facts about London and The Shard. Graphics show how the building is linked to the city's transport system, showing the lifts moving inside the building and the trains running underneath in real time.

An innovative lift service system was created for The Shard by KONE engineering. Guests travel in two lifts going up and two lifts going down. These lifts travel at six metres per second, making the total time to go from Level 1 to Level 68 about a minute.

The ascending lifts use video screens and mirrors to create the effect of rising through iconic ceilings and roofs of London, including the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, the Rubens ceiling at the Banqueting House in Whitehall, the spiral staircase at Monument, and the British Museum’s Great Court glass roof.

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Wikipedia