UK Ministry of Defence - Whitehall (London)
N 51° 30.284 W 000° 07.488
30U E 699536 N 5709875
The depicted monumental building, located between Whitehall and the Victoria Embankment and with entrances on Horse Guards Avenue, houses headquarters of UK Ministry of Defence...
Waymark Code: WMQBCW
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/28/2016
Views: 10
The depicted monumental building, located between Whitehall and the Victoria Embankment and with entrances on Horse Guards Avenue, houses headquarters of UK Ministry of Defence...
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is the British government department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by Her Majesty's Government, and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. The MoD states that its principal objectives are to defend the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and its interests and to strengthen international peace and stability. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the MoD does not foresee any short-term conventional military threat; rather, it has identified weapons of mass destruction, international terrorism, and failed and failing states as the overriding threats to Britain's interests. The MoD also manages day-to-day running of the armed forces, contingency planning and defence procurement. [wiki]
MoD is relative new governmental body in the British history and its origin is connected with post-WWII era. From 1946-1964 five Departments of State did the work of the modern Ministry of Defence: the Admiralty, the War Office, the Air Ministry, the Ministry of Aviation, and an earlier form of the Ministry of Defence. These departments merged in 1964; the defence functions of the Ministry of Aviation Supply merged into the Ministry of Defence in 1971.
The Main Building of MoD
The headquarters of the MoD are in Whitehall and are now known as Main Building. This neo-Classicist monolithic eight-storey office building was originally built between 1938-1959 to designs by Vincent Harris to house the Air Ministry and the Board of Trade. It had three internal courtyards that were originally open to the sky but have now been fitted with glazed roofs. The northern entrance in Horse Guards Avenue is flanked by two monumental statues, Earth and Water, by Charles Wheeler. Opposite stands the Gurkha Monument, sculpted by Philip Jackson and unveiled in 1997 by Queen Elizabeth II. A major refurbishment of the building was completed in 2004.