"The Thames has always been London´s lifeblood: a quietly serving, much abused artery that in the Middle Ages provided fresh water and fish, and by the middle of the C19 was a stinking open sewer spurned by all except those river workers (...) to whom it gave a living."
In the 1950s the Thames was still not recognized by the Londoners, not even in the late 1960s when the docks were closed, "quietly co-incided with a period inititating a massive rehabilitation".
But then around the Millennium the Londoners rediscovered their river and its embankments.
The riverside changed, tourist boats on the river offered new experiences and interest for tourists. Important features of the new riverside promenade were of course also the London Eye, the Tate Modern and the Somerset House.
"London had apparently rediscovered its artery."
Allinson, Ken. (1994) London´s contemporary architecture. Oxford: Architectural Press
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