London Unveils Europe's Largest Building (For Now)

The Shard, Europe's tallest building, has recently finished external completion. Located in London, the building is 1,016 feet in height, and is being promoted as an icon for the city. While visitors won't officially be able to go to the top of The View from The Shard, the building's viewing platform, until February 1, 2013, tickets have gone on sale.

With 95 stories, 44 elevators, 206 flights of stairs, 600,000 square feat of office space and 11,000 panes of glass that will be angled to reflect the sky and change with the weather, the building is impressive. It will feature apartments selling for about £50 million pounds, office spaces, restaurants, a five-star hotel and the viewing platform. Plans for The Shard were approved in 2003. While some believe the building is a disgrace to London's heritage, creation of the project moved forward.

Later this year, the building will have to change its title to tallest building in Western Europe, as the Mercury City Tower in the Moscow International Building Center will be completed, at 1,089 feet.

On July 5, a laser light show was held to celebrate the building's external completion, which can be seen in the video above.

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