The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the House
of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of
the United Kingdom. Commonly known as the Houses of Parliament after
its occupants, the Palace lies on the north bank of the River Thames.
Its name, which is derived
from the neighboring Westminster Abbey, may
refer to either of two structures: the Old Palace, a medieval building
complex destroyed by fire in 1834, or its replacement, the New Palace
that stands today. The palace is owned by the monarch in Right of the
Crown and, for ceremonial purposes, retains its original status as a
royal residence. The first royal palace was built on the site in the
11th century, and
Westminster was the primary residence of the Kings of England until
fire destroyed much of the complex in 1512. After that, it served as
the home of the Parliament of England, which had been meeting there
since the 13th century, and also as the seat of the Royal Courts of
Justice, based in and around Westminster Hall. In 1834, an even greater
fire ravaged the heavily rebuilt Houses of Parliament, and the only
significant medieval structures to survive were Westminster Hall, the
Cloisters of St Stephen's, the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, and the
Jewel Tower. The subsequent competition for the reconstruction of the
Palace was won by the architect Charles Barry, whose design was for new
buildings in the Gothic Revival style. The remains of the Old Palace
(except the detached Jewel Tower) were
incorporated into its much larger replacement, which contains over
1,100 rooms organised symmetrically around two series of courtyards and
has a floor area of 1,210,680 sq ft.
The Palace is one of the centres of political life in the United
Kingdom; "Westminster" has become a metonym for the UK Parliament, and
the Westminster system of government has taken its name after it. The
Elizabeth Tower, in particular, which is often referred to by the name
of its main bell, Big Ben, is an iconic landmark of London and the
United Kingdom in general, one of the most popular tourist attractions
in the city, and an emblem of parliamentary democracy. Tsar Nicholas I
of Russia called the palace "a dream in stone." Below is a 360 virtual
tour of the Palace of Westminster.
