If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 355

Tower of London, Inner Ward and Bell Tower, ca early 1900s

The company of Léon & Lévy was one of the most important producers of photograph postcards in France.  Headquartered in Paris, they specialized in postcards like this one and stereoscopic views of locations in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.  The stereoscopic cards featured two images that when looked at with a special viewer, similar to a more modern View Master, created a 3-D picture. Founded in 1864 by Isaac Lévy and his son-in-law, Moyse Léon, their trademark is seen on the card above as LL.  The cards were all numbered and it is possible to estimate the date by the number.  Since this card is 312 and the card numbers go into the thousands, it is probably from the early 1900s. 

Officially Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, it is most often called The Tower of London.  The Inner Ward, shown on the card, was built in the 1190s.  The castle covers 12 acres and the Tower Liberties an additional 6 acres.  Since 1988 it has been an UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Sections of the complex have been used as an armory, a treasury, a menagerie, housed the Royal Mint, a public record office, home of the Crown Jewels of England and a prison.

During the reign of Richard the Lionheart a moat was dug to the west of the innermost ward nearly doubling the castle size.  Henry III had the east and north walls constructed.  Most of Henry’s work has survived until today with only two of nine towers rebuilt.  The towers provided a way to defend the castle from a potential enemy attack.  Many of the towers have names that reflect other uses, such as the Bell Tower that houses a belfry so alarms could be sounded in the event of an attack.  The Bowyer Tower was where the royal bow-maker had his workshop and made longbows, crossbows, catapults and other hand weapons.  The Lanthorn Tower had a beacon light for night travelers.  The Bloody Tower is where the two young princes, Richard and Edward were held captive and later murdered. 

Today the Tower of London is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the United Kingdom.  Historically it was besieged several times and had a reputation as a place of terror and torture; although, only 7 people were executed there before World War I and World War II when 12 people were executed for espionage.  Most executions took place on Tower Hill rather than within the Tower itself. 

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_London