Jewel House

The Jewel House sits inside the Waterloo Block, a building that began its life as a military barracks for soldiers stationed at the Tower of London. To manage the immense crowds visiting the royal regalia today, the designers of the current exhibition drew inspiration from the layout and flow of theme parks like Disneyland. Before this modern arrangement opened in nineteen ninety-four, the regalia had been housed in a variety of insecure and sometimes damp locations throughout the complex, including the Martin Tower, where a custodian once showed off the crown jewels for a small fee by pulling them out of a locked cupboard.