Parliament. The Palace of Westminster. Topic "Westminster Abbey Palace of Westminster in English

The history of the Palace of Westminster began a very long time ago.

This building arose in 1840-1860 on the site of an old palace that burned down in 1834, which by that time was a combination of the most diverse buildings. However, during the fire, they managed to save, in addition to the badly damaged crypt under the chapel of St. Stephen, the architecturally most valuable part of the old palace is Westminster Hall. Fate turned out to be merciful to him for the second time: the hall survived during the devastating bombing of German aircraft in May 1941, when the adjacent hall of the House of Commons was destroyed.

For modern London, Westminster Hall is the best and most expressive monument of medieval secular architecture. Started in 1097, it was rebuilt at the end of the 14th century. Henry Yevel, a talented London mason, laid out the walls. The famous wooden floors were built with the participation of the royal carpenter Hugh Erland.

But let's get it right...

In 1215, eighteen barons, who were in opposition to royal power, forced the English king John Landless to sign the Magna Carta, which laid the foundation for the English constitution. A few years later, Baron Simon de Montfort, one of the leaders of the opposition, convened the first English Parliament. However, despite its ancient origin, parliament for a long time did not have his own residence: meetings had to be held in the ancient Westminster Hall or share the Chapter Hall of Westminster Abbey with the monks. Only in 1547 did the English Parliament receive its permanent residence in the St. Stephen's Chapel of the old Palace of Westminster, which until the 16th century was the main residence of the English kings.

In the place of Westminster in ancient times there was an impenetrable swamp. However, the swamp was dried up, and in its place was erected Royal Palace. The palace was close to the Thames, next to Westminster Abbey, a few miles from the City.

The first palace was built for King Edward the Confessor, who came to the throne in 1042. Forty-five years later, for William Rufus, son of William the Confessor, Westminster Hall was built - the most elegant hall in Europe, where a feast was held in 1099. In the 13th century, Henry III added a painted chamber, and during his reign the first parliament was convened (from the French verb "parler" - to speak).

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January 20, 1265 at the Palace of Westminster met the first English Parliament, convened by Simon de Montfort Earl of Leicester. In order to give the established order the appearance of legality, Montfort put forward the initiative to create a council in which, along with the rest, the third estate would be represented. Collected on January 20, 1265, this council very quickly developed into a permanent body, called the Parliament.

To adapt the chapel for holding parliamentary sessions, it was completely built up with benches and galleries, which, of course, distorted its architectural appearance. In addition, the entrance to it passed through Westminster Hall, where the Supreme Court of England sat. However, despite a number of inconveniences, the House of Commons met in St. Stephen's Chapel until the fire of 1834, after which it again found itself without a permanent seat.

After the fire in the slightly damaged part of Westminster Hall Parliament still continued to temporarily sit, and the architect Smirke accepted the proposal to arrange two temporary rooms for their meetings on the ruins of the burnt chambers. The architect diligently set to work and usefully used all the parts that had survived from the fire. The former premises of the upper House of Lords were restored and given to the work of the House of Commons, and the Lords themselves received the restored Art Gallery for their meetings.

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But by the summer of 1835, a special commission decided to build a new Westminster Palace on the old site. According to legend, the choice of location was largely determined by security considerations: in the event of popular unrest, the Parliament building, located on the banks of the Thames, will not be surrounded by an indignant crowd. The palace was recommended to be built in the Gothic or Elizabethan style, that is, in the spirit of the secular architecture of England at the end of the 16th century.

97 projects were submitted to the competition, 91 of which were made in the Gothic style. Preference was given to the project of C. Barry, a young architect, but by that time the author of several well-known buildings. In addition to the main halls for the meetings of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, it was necessary to provide premises for the ceremonial ceremony of the annual opening of Parliament with the presence of the Queen, who opens its work. We needed separate voting rooms, corridors that would connect the central halls with libraries, canteens, as well as many other utility rooms. And Charles Barry was able to very logically arrange all this myriad of courtyards, rooms and corridors.

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In 1837, on the banks of the Thames, builders began to build terraces that pushed the river back, and three years later, C. Barry's wife laid the first stone in the foundation of the new Palace of Westminster.

To restore this masterpiece of architecture, a special commission was created, and soon a competition was announced for the development of the project, in which about a hundred people took part. As a result, ninety-seven options were considered, of which the project of Charles Barry (1795-1860) was recognized as the best. Restoration was entrusted to him, which he did in a magnificent Gothic style with the help of Augustus Pugin, who completed the picturesque ornamental work. St. Stephen's Chapel was renamed St. Stephen's Hall. It is a wide corridor lined with paintings, marble sculptures, and a lagoon marker where the speaker's chair used to be.

The preparatory work dragged on for 3 years - it took to build terraces on the banks of the Thames. Only in 1840 did work begin on the Parliament building itself. The construction of the palace was completed in 1888.

Currently, the building of the Palace of Westminster, which is now simply called the Parliament, is located in central London and is one of the largest buildings in the world. According to some, it is the main attraction of the English capital.

The Palace of Westminster stretches far along the banks of the Thames and covers an area of ​​more than three hectares. Despite its size, the Parliament building does not overwhelm with its immensity, but on the contrary, caresses the eye with the lightness and beauty of its majestic romantic forms, although it has elements of late Gothic and some asymmetry of the silhouette and individual details. Outside, it is crowned with innumerable small turrets, and its walls are decorated with lancet windows, lovely rosettes, and lacework of stone trimming of cornices and windows. The Parliament is especially beautiful in the evenings, when its towers and spiers, flooded with spotlights, stand out like a fantastic crown in the dark sky.

The main verticals of the Palace of Westminster are the Victoria Tower (its height is 104 meters), rising above the royal entrance to the Parliament, and the Big Ben clock tower, 98 meters high. The name of the main hour bell, weighing more than 13 tons, was named after Benjamin Hall, Minister of Public Works. The clock itself, which has four 9-meter dials, was arranged under the guidance of the famous astronomer Erie. When the clock strikes the time, all British radio stations broadcast them. The "Victoria Tower" forms the royal entrance to Parliament, and during parliamentary sessions, the British national flag is hoisted on it.

The opening of the work of parliamentary sessions is accompanied by solemn traditional ceremonies. The royal couple arrive in a gilded carriage drawn by eight cream-coloured horses. These horses descend in a straight line from those that William of Orange brought with him to England from Holland at the end of the 17th century.

The royal throne, upholstered in red velvet and adorned with gold and diamonds, stands on a special dais in the House of Lords under an inlaid Gothic canopy.

The success in the construction of the Palace of Westminster, the architect C. Barry, was largely due to cooperation with O. Pugin, an enthusiast and connoisseur of English Gothic. An excellent draftsman, passionately in love with the art of the Middle Ages, he also participated in the development of the details of the facades of the palace. It was thanks to the inventive imagination of O. Pugin that the facades of the Parliament and its towers were decorated with intricate stone carvings. O. Pugin worked especially hard on the interior design of the Palace of Westminster, although some researchers note that sometimes his sense of proportion changed somewhat. You will not find smooth ceilings and walls anywhere, everywhere there are carved panels, canopies, niches, bright mosaics, huge frescoes, the floors in many rooms are lined with yellow, blue and brown tiles. somewhat tiring, but in the 1840s they delighted the wealthy bourgeois public.

Of greatest interest in the Palace of Westminster is the interior of the House of Lords and the premises associated with it by parliamentary ceremonial: the Royal Gallery for ceremonial processions; the room in which the Queen is dressed for her solemn appearance in Parliament; waiting room for the exchange of views and making private decisions and others.
The ceiling of the House of Lords is completely covered with images of heraldic birds, animals, flowers, etc.; its walls are lined with carved wooden panels, above which are images of six frescoes. Eighteen bronze statues of the barons who secured Magna Carta from the king stand in niches between the windows, looking out over the inlaid canopy of the royal throne, the rows of benches covered in bright red leather, and the Lord Chancellor's famous "woolen sack". Centuries ago, this bag, covered with red cloth, was stuffed with wool, personifying the emblem of English industry. At present, the original "wool sack" has become a museum piece, but the tradition has remained: the chairman of the House of Lords, dressed in a black and gold robe and a lush white wig, opens the meeting, sitting on a soft red sofa without a back.

Adjacent to the House of Lords is an antechamber, decorated with the same opulent luxury as the hall of the Upper House itself. The northern doors from it lead to a corridor that ends at the octagonal Central Hall. There are statues of English kings in niches around the entire hall.

In the hall of the House of Commons there is not that stately pomp that is present in the hall of the House of Lords. This is not a very large room, finished in dark oak, and the dark green benches in it, running in parallel rows, leave only a small passage in the middle. Members of the lower house of parliament during their meetings can even sit in a hat, but the chairman (speaker) is always dressed solemnly: in an old black suit, stockings and shoes, and according to the old tradition, his head is covered with an indispensable wig.

The arrangement of the speaker's place is also associated with long traditions. His chair, behind and on the sides surrounded by an iron lattice, stands in front of the front door. In former times this portcullis protected the President of the House of Commons from occasional attacks. During the reign of the Stuarts, the speakers were henchmen of the king, so they often complained about all sorts of incidents. For example, how some deputy “stood behind my chair and barked in my ear so much that I, like the other members of the chamber, was extremely frightened”; or how some “deputy came up and stuck out his tongue at me.”

The need for an iron lattice has long passed, but the builders of the new building did not dare to deviate from tradition.
In the hall of the House of Commons, in front of the speaker's chair, there is a large table on which lies a mace - a symbol of the speaker's power, and three secretaries in judicial robes and wigs sit at the table.

At the western end of the hall of the lower house of the English Parliament, several steps lead down to the vestibule, on the right side of which the entrance to Westminster Hall opens. It remains from that huge building, the foundation of which was laid in 1097 by William the Red, the son of William the Conqueror. Burnt in a fire in 1291, Westminster Hall was rebuilt in its present form in 1308.

Westminster Hall is a very large hall, its dimensions are 88x21x28 meters. Its ceiling does not rest on a single column, and there is no other such building. This ceiling was refurbished in 1820, for which timber was taken from old ships of the line.

Many historical events took place in Westminster Hall, perhaps only the Tower has seen more dramas than this hall. The first English Parliament met in it, and Kings Edward II and Richard II were deposed here; in it, Richard III received his captives - the Scottish king David II and the king of France, Jean the Good. In this hall, the utopian philosopher Thomas More heard his death sentence, King Charles II was tried here. At Westminster Hall, during the coronation of George IV, a knight rode on a horse, throwing down a glove to anyone who dares to challenge the crown of his king.

At Westminster Hall, through a small door, now sealed up, King Charles I appeared and demanded the extradition of five members of the opposition. This was the only time in the history of the English Parliament that the king entered the hall of the lower house. Here, later, Charles I himself was tried, and the crowd that filled the hall and looked out the windows shouted: “Execution! Execution! The king's death sentence was passed unanimously, and this document is still kept in the library of the House of Commons.

At Westminster Hall, Oliver Cromwell, in a purple and ermine robe, with a golden scepter in one hand and a Bible in the other, assumed the title of Lord Protector. And four years later, here, his head was put on a stake.

Both chambers are connected by a corridor to Westminster Hall, which is the central hall of the building and occupies the middle of the palace. The corridor itself serves as a kind of reception room, a place of communication between parliament deputies and “ outside world”, so there is always a revival and there is a lot of public and tourists.

Part of the Palace of Westminster, which houses the hall of the House of Commons, was destroyed during the Second World War, but the general Gothic character of its architecture was preserved during the restoration. Unfortunately, the details of decoration carved in stone and wood and many other items of decoration, which previously constituted a single style complex with the entire room, could not be repeated. Lighting spotlights modern forms further violated the artistic integrity of this hall.

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Another long tradition has been preserved in the English Parliament since the 17th century. In 1605, a group of conspirators dug under the building of the Palace of Westminster and laid gunpowder there in order to blow up all the deputies along with the king at the time of the solemn meeting. The plot was uncovered, and Guy Fawkes, who led the gunpowder plot, was executed along with his accomplices. But every year the guards, dressed in ancient costumes, with lanterns and halberds in their hands, search all the cellars and nooks and crannies of the palace. The lanterns of the guards are without candles, since the lower floors of the Parliament are well lit by electricity. It is known in advance that they will not find any barrels of gunpowder, especially since the new palace was built two and a half centuries after the “gunpowder plot”. But every year, on November 5, the guards, led by the bailiff of the chamber (“the bearer of the black rod”) go around the basement and check if there are any new intruders….

Westminster Hall covers an area of ​​1800 square meters. Its height is 28 meters. This is one of the most grandiose medieval halls known in architecture. Western Europe, whose wooden roof is also not supported by any supporting pillars. The span of the hall, 21 meters wide, is covered with carved oak open rafters, supported by a complex system of wooden brackets that are strongly extended forward. The shape of these overlaps is difficult to describe.

Usually they are usually compared with the frames of ancient frigates, as if turned upside down. But this comparison by no means reveals the complexity of the design, high level the carpentry skills of the builders and the amazing artistic effect that they managed to achieve. Such a system of wooden floors, usually used in residential buildings and parish churches in England, was one of the peculiar achievements of English medieval architecture and nowhere else in Europe has it become so widespread and has not reached such a high artistic level as in this country.

In Westminster Hall, one is surprised by the integrity of the composition, the impeccability of proportions and lines of the carved pattern. Over the centuries, the wood of the floors has darkened, and now they seem to be immersed in a mysterious twilight. The space of the hall is filled with silvery-purple light pouring through the colored stained-glass windows of the gothic lancet windows. According to the British, in any weather it blows cold from the walls. Everything reminds of the antiquity of the hall, helps to revive the events that took place in it.

The Houses of Parliament is the most significant creation of the architect Barry. And although it caused the most controversial judgments and assessments, this did not prevent it from immediately becoming one of the city's attractions. Attention is drawn to the correctly found proportion of the main volumes of such a significant structure in its scale. When viewed from afar, it invariably produces great impression almost classical severity and wide scope of its facades, and at the same time - the picturesqueness of its outlines as a whole. The mighty, square in plan Victoria Tower and the huge clock tower, asymmetrically located in the northern and southern parts of the palace, give it a unique identity. Together with a small tower with a spire, placed above the central hall, they not only decorate it, but also balance the huge length of the facades with their height.

The Victoria Tower, rising 104 meters in height, marks the royal entrance to Parliament. During the session, the British national flag is raised on it. The clock tower is 98 meters high. It has a clock mechanism, which is highly accurate. We can say that this is the "main clock" of the state. A huge bell "Big Ben" (Big Bon), specially cast for the tower, weighing 13.5 tons, strikes the clock. Big Ben's fight is constantly broadcast by English radio stations. The watch got its name from Benjamin Hall, one of the construction leaders. During the parliamentary session, with the onset of darkness, a searchlight is lit on the tower.

The British Empire erected for its parliament a building of rare splendor and size even according to the tastes of that time. Reference books give figures: 3.2 hectares of area, 3 kilometers of corridors, 1,100 rooms, 100 stairs. . . Of course, dry figures do not reveal the artistic merits or shortcomings of the palace, but to some extent they testify to the complex layout of the building, which affected both the features of the parliamentary structure, and the traditions that have long accompanied meetings, and everyday business life English Parliament. In addition to the main halls of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, it was necessary to provide premises designed for the ceremonial ceremony of the annual opening of Parliament with the presence of the Queen reading the throne speech. We needed special rooms for voting, kilometers of corridors that would connect the central halls with libraries, canteens, and various utility rooms. Barry managed to arrange all this myriad of rooms, corridors, courtyards in a very logical way.
The northern part of the building, overshadowed by the Victoria Tower, is occupied by the House of Lords and the premises associated with it by parliamentary ceremonial. These include: the magnificent Royal Gallery, designed for ceremonial processions; the room in which the Queen is dressed for her solemn appearance in Parliament; lobby, in literal translation from English - a waiting room, but in fact - the sidelines, a room for exchanging opinions, making private decisions. Characteristically, the same term in parliamentary jargon refers to a group of figures who, in their own interests, put pressure on deputies.

In the southern half of the palace, next to Big Ben, is the hall of the House of Commons. There is also the lobby of the House of Commons, voting rooms, the residence of the speaker.

Corridors connect these most important parts of the Palace of Westminster with the Central Hall, which occupies the middle of the building and serves as a kind of reception room, a place for members of Parliament to communicate with the “outside world”. This room is almost always lively. Deputies accept petitions from their constituents. Journalists, having learned the latest parliamentary news, immediately report it to their agencies from numerous telephone booths. There are a lot of people and tourists here.
From here, a corridor leads to St. Stephen, built on the site of a chapel destroyed by fire. From the dais at the end of the hall opens best view on the interior of Westminster Hall.

Barry, the builder of the Houses of Parliament, owed much of his success to his contemporaries to his collaboration with Augustus Pugin, a great connoisseur of Gothic architecture, a man fanatically in love with the art of the Middle Ages and its zealous propagandist. In addition, Pugin was an excellent draftsman. Recent studies show that many carefully and even gracefully executed architectural drawings of the Palace of Westminster belong to his hand.

Thanks to the inventive imagination of Pugin, the facades and towers of Barry were decorated with intricate stone carvings. Pugin's inspiration was the Henry VII Chapel, built in the late Gothic "perpendicular" style and located right there, just across the street from the new palace under construction. Pugin worked especially hard on interior design of the Houses of Parliament. However, here the sense of proportion often betrayed him. Nowhere you will find a calm surface of ceilings and walls. Everywhere - carved wooden panels, canopies, niches, bright mosaics, huge frescoes, colorful wallpapers. The floors of many rooms are lined with tiles - yellow, blue, brown. The fineness of the ornament, the overload of details, the variegation of colors - everything that delighted the wealthy bourgeois public of the 1840s, tires the eye of the modern viewer and only prevents one from sometimes noticing truly high craftsmanship.

Of greatest interest is the interior of the House of Lords. Decorative techniques found in the interior decoration of the entire palace reach their climax here. The ceiling is completely covered with images of heraldic birds, animals, flowers, etc. The walls are lined with carved wooden panels, above which there are six frescoes. Eighteen bronze statues of the barons who won Magna Carta from King John stand in niches between the windows, looking out over the inlaid canopy of the royal throne, the rows of pews covered in bright red leather, the famous sofa of the Lord Chancellor.

This sofa recalls a long tradition: the Lord Chancellor used to sit in parliament on a wool sack, symbolizing the foundations of British trade and wealth. The original wool sack has now become a museum piece, but the tradition has remained: the chairman of the House of Lords, dressed in a black and gold robe, in a lush white wig, opens the meetings of the House sitting on a soft sofa.

And also, by tradition, at the north end of the House of Lords there is a bronze wrought-iron barrier, marking the place of the members of the House of Commons and the speaker who heads it, which they occupy during the opening of Parliament.

Part of the Palace of Westminster, which houses the House of Commons, was destroyed during the Second World War. During the restoration work, the general Gothic character of the architecture was preserved. But the decoration details carved in stone and wood, as well as many items of decoration that previously constituted a single stylistic complex with the entire room, were not repeated. The introduction of lighting spotlights of modern forms further violated the artistic integrity of the appearance of the hall. However, in its original form, the hall of the House of Commons was much more modest and businesslike than the hall of the House of Lords. Its walls were covered in dark oak panelling, and its pews were upholstered in green leather. This combination has been preserved to our time.

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Sources
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Parliament. The Palace of Westminster.

Britain is administered from the Palace of Westminster in London. This is also known as the Houses of Parliament. Parliament is made up of two chambers - the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

The members of the House of Lords are not elected: they qualify to sit in the House because they are bishops of the Church of England, aristocrats who have inherited their seats from their fathers, people with titles. There has been talk of reform in this century because many Britons think that this system is undemocratic.

The House of Commons, by contrast, has 65 0seats which are occupied by Members of Parliament (MPs) who are elected by the British public. The United Kingdom is divided into constituencies, each of which has an elected MP in the House of Commons.

Each of the major political parties appoints a representative (candidate) to compete for each seat. Smaller parties may have a candidate in only a few constituencies. There may be five or more parties, fighting for one seat, but only one person - the candidate who gets the greatest number of votes - can win.

Some parties win a lot of seats and some win very few, or none at all. The Queen, who is the Head of State, opens and closes Parliament. All new laws are debated (discussed) by MPs in the Commons, then debated in the Lords, and finally signed by the Queen.

All three are part of Parliament in Britain.

Parliament. Palace of Westminster.

The British government is located in the Palace of Westminster in London. The Palace of Westminster is also known as Parliament House. Parliament consists of two chambers - the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Members of the House of Lords are not elected: they are members of Parliament because they are bishops of the English Church and aristocrats who have inherited their seats from their fathers, titled persons. There is talk of reforming this system in the present century, as many Britons do not see such a system as democratic.

The House of Commons, by contrast, has 650 seats. These seats are held by Members of Parliament elected by the British people. The United Kingdom is divided into constituencies, each of which has a representative (member of parliament) in the House of Commons.

Each of the major political parties appoints a representative (candidate) to compete for a seat in parliament. Smaller parties may only have candidates in a few constituencies. Five or more parties may compete for one seat, but only one person can win - the candidate who receives the most a large number of votes.

Some parties get a lot of seats, others get very few or none at all. The Queen, head of state, opens and closes Parliament. All laws are discussed by members of the House of Commons, then by members of the House of Lords, and finally signed by the Queen.

Parliament in Britain consists of: the Queen, the House of Commons, the House of Lords.

Vocabulary:

1. What is Parliament made up of?
2. Are the members of the House of Lords elected?
3. What do Britons think about this system?
4. Who appoints a representative to compete for each seat?
5. Who can win the seat?
6. Who is the Head of State?

Vocabulary:
to be made up of - consist of
elected - elected
inherited - inherited
seat - place
constituency - constituency
candidate - candidate
vote - voting, the right to vote

Britain is administered from the Palace of Westminster in London. This is also known as the Houses of Parliament. Parliament is made up of two chambers - the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

The members of the House of Lords are not elected: they qualify to sit in the House because they are bishops of the Church of England, aristocrats who have inherited their seats from their fathers, people with titles. There has been talk of reform in this century because many Britons think that this system is undemocratic.

The House of Commons, by contrast, has 650 seats which are occupied by Members of Parliament (MPs) who are elected by the British public. The United Kingdom is divided into constituencies, each of which has an elected MP in the House of Commons.

Each of the major political parties appoints a representative (candidate) to compete for each seat. Smaller parties may have a candidate in only a few constituencies. There may be five or more parties, fighting for one seat, but only one person - the candidate who gets the greatest number of votes - can win.

Some parties win a lot of seats and some win very few, or none at all. The Queen, who is the Head of State, opens and closes Parliament. All new laws are debated (discussed) by MPs in the Commons, then debated in the Lords, and finally signed by the Queen.

All three are part of Parliament in Britain.

Text translation: Parliament. The Palace of Westminster. - Parliament. Palace of Westminster.

The British government is located in the Palace of Westminster in London. The Palace of Westminster is also known as Parliament House. Parliament consists of two chambers - the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Members of the House of Lords are not elected: they are members of Parliament because they are bishops of the English Church and aristocrats who have inherited their seats from their fathers, titled persons. There is talk of reforming this system in the present century, as many Britons do not see such a system as democratic.

The House of Commons, by contrast, has 650 seats. These seats are held by Members of Parliament elected by the British people. The United Kingdom is divided into constituencies, each of which has a representative (member of parliament) in the House of Commons.

Each of the main political parties appoints a representative (candidate) to fight for a seat in parliament. Smaller parties may only have candidates in a few constituencies. Five or more parties may compete for one seat, but only one person can win - the candidate receiving the largest number of votes.

Some parties get a lot of seats, others get very few or none at all. The Queen, head of state, opens and closes Parliament. All laws are discussed by members of the House of Commons, then by members of the House of Lords, and finally signed by the Queen.

Parliament in Britain consists of: the Queen, the House of Commons, the House of Lords.

References:
1. 100 topics of oral English (V. Kaverina, V. Boyko, N. Zhidkih) 2002
2. English for schoolchildren and applicants to universities. Oral exam. Topics. Reading texts. Exam questions. (Tsvetkova I.V., Klepalchenko I.A., Myltseva N.A.)
3. English, 120 Topics. English language, 120 conversation topics. (Sergeev S.P.)

The Houses of Parliament constitute perhaps the most popular and widely spread image of London, known and recognized throughout the whole world. In this famous palace are also many meeting halls and various parliamentary offices.

The Palace of Westminster, together with Victoria Tower and the Clock Tower - which houses the most famous clock in the world, Big Ben - form an unmistakable architectural complex. But the Towers and the Houses of Parliament are not only associated architecturally, but also in the democratic spirit that rules the political life developed in the House of Commons, for, if Parliament is sitting - British parliamentary debates constitute an exemplary political spectacle - the flag flies on top of Victoria Tower during the whole day. If the debates go on during the night - which quite often happens in the dynamic parliamentary life of Great Britain, especially if matters highly important for the nation are being discussed - a light burns above Big Ben in the Clock Tower. This light at night and the flag during the day-time signal for the people of London that the members of Parliament, each from his own political point of view, are watching over the nation's interests.

The Houses of Parliament can be visited by the public. The entrance is through the door located at the foot of Victoria Tower and next to the Royal Arch. Visitors start at the Royal Gallery and then go to the House of Lords. Here there is the historical Woolsack, where the Lord Chancellor takes his place to preside over the sittings. From here, visitors proceed towards the Central Corridor, crossing the Antechamber of the Lords. The historical frescos that decorate the walls of the Central Corridor are very interesting. Passing from here visitors arrive at the Antechamber of the Commons and then continue to the actual Commons itself.

At the end of the House of Commons is the Speaker "s Chair, on the right side of which the members of the parliamentary majority sit. The members of the groups that form the Opposition sit on the left, directly facing the Government benches.

Another interesting point in the Houses of Parliament is St. Stephen's Hall, which is decorated with very valuable frescos. From St. Stephen's Hall one reaches Westminster Hall. It is one of the oldest buildings in London.

Houses of Parliament

The Houses of Parliament are perhaps the most popular and widespread symbol of London, known and recognized throughout the world. This famous palace has many assembly halls and various parliamentary offices.

The Palace of Westminster, together with the Victoria Tower and the Clock Tower - which houses the most famous clock in the world, Big Ben - form an unmistakable architectural complex. The towers and the Houses of Parliament are connected not only architecturally, but also by the democratic spirit that rules the political life of the House of Commons. If Parliament is in session - British parliamentary debates are an example of a political spectacle - the flag flies atop the Victoria Tower throughout the day. If the debate continues into the night - which is quite often the case in the dynamic parliamentary life of the UK, especially if issues of great importance to the nation are being discussed at the present time - the light is on over Big Ben in the Clock Tower. This light at night and the flag during the day is a signal to the people that the members of Parliament, each with their own political point of view, look after the interests of the nation.

The Parliament buildings can be visited by the public. Entrance through the door located at the foot of the Victoria Tower and next to the Royal Arch. Visitors start at the Royal Gallery and then move on to the House of Lords. There is a historic woolsack here where the Lord Chancellor takes his seat and presides over meetings. From here, visitors enter the Central Corridor, crossing the Entrance Hall of the House of Lords. The historical frescoes that adorn the walls of the Central Corridor are very interesting. Passing by the Entrance Hall of the House of Commons, visitors enter the House of Commons itself.

At the end of the House of Commons is the speaker's throne, on the right side of which sit the members of the parliamentary majority. The members of the groups that form the opposition sit on the left, directly opposite the government bench.

Another interesting point in the parliament building is St. Stephen's Hall, which is decorated with very valuable frescoes. From St Stephen's Hall you enter Westminster Hall. This is one of the oldest buildings in London.

London is a place where many historic buildings and tourist attractions are situated. Westminster is considered to be a political center of the city where many offices are placed. However, the main part of Westminster is obviously the Abbey. It is located near the Houses of Parliament.

According to the ancient tradition, the church was founded by St. Peter 900 years ago. Later it was rebuilt during the reign of Henry III. The original Westminster Abbey was built in the Romanesque style and then it was reconstructed in the Gothic style. The church is very high and has a magnificent exterior.

Translation:

London is the place where many historical buildings and sights are located. Westminster is considered the political center of the city, where many offices are located. However, the main part of Westminster is the abbey. It is located near the Palace of Westminster.

Westminster Abbey is the place where all the English kings and queens were crowned, as well as the royal wedding ceremonies. Moreover, there are burial places of many royal persons and great people: Queen Elizabeth I, William Shakespeare, Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, Bernard Shaw, Lord Byron, Walter Scott and many others.

According to ancient tradition, the founder of the church is St. Paul, who created it 900 years ago. It was later rebuilt during the reign of Henry III. Initially, the church was built in the Romanesque style, and then it was remade in the Gothic style. The church is very tall and has a great view.

Every year the church attracts millions of people who come to see the abbey and visit the famous Poets' Corner. There is also a statue of Shakespeare, which appeared in 1741. So Westminster Abbey is interesting place for visiting. There you can admire the beauty of the church itself and see the graves of prominent people.

Expressions

Abbey - abbey

Royalty - royalty

To crown - to crown

To burry - to bury

To found smth - found something

Exterior - appearance