Palace of Westminster: description, excursion, interesting facts. Palace of Westminster: from the past to our time Palace of Westminster in Russian read

The decoration of London and the seat of Parliament is Westminster Palace stretching along the banks of the Thames. It is curious that the huge neo-Gothic splendor overshadows its small part in terms of fame - St. Stephen's Tower or Big Ben.

In 1834, the predecessor of the palace flared up, only the crypt under the chapel of St. Stephen and Westminster Hall remained from the fire, on the basis of which a new building was rebuilt in 1840-1860. Subsequently, he also got it, but even during the attack by German bombers in 1941, the lucky westminster hall survived.

What is remarkable about the hall, which does not burn in fire and is not afraid of bombs? Proportionality, completeness, intricacy of carving. Over the years, the tree darkened, and the silver of the light oozing through the stained-glass windows was framed by twilight. They say that no matter how hot it is outside the hall, you can freeze inside without a jacket.

Perhaps it is worth talking about the "untouchable" in more detail. Built in the 11th century and redrawn in the 14th century, the building reached 28 meters in height and occupied 1.8 thousand "squares".

Within the Middle Ages there were practically no analogues of the structure in Western Europe. What's so special about it? Here, for example, ceilings: the roof was not supported by pillars. This “mechanism” cannot be described in detail, but in short, the oak rafters were fixed with brackets moved forward at a decent distance. A similar technique was used in the construction of residential buildings and parish churches of the country; it can be safely called an achievement of English architecture.

Crossing the threshold of the hall - you take a step into the past. Once the Parliament began to sit here, at the end of the 13th century the House of Commons moved into the building, then for 5 centuries in a row the Supreme Court of England “housed” in the hall, coronation banquets were also held here. Within the walls of Westminster Hall, Thomas More, Guy Fawkes, Charles I, Kilmanrock, Lovat and Balmerino heard the death sentences, and Oliver Cromwell was proclaimed Lord Protector of the Republic. True, 8 years have passed, and the remains of the lord were exhumed, and the head is on display on the roof of Westminster Hall. But that's a completely different story...

In the 19th century, a new building of the Court appeared, the last coronation celebrated in the hall of the abbey took place in 1832, a little earlier book and cloth merchants were driven out of the building, enlivening the hall from the end of the 17th century. Westminster Hall was connected to the new Houses of Parliament with the help of St. Stephen's Portal.

It would seem that, the House of Commons and for many years and her fame thundered far beyond the borders of England, and got his own residence her not right away. At first, the members of the House had to "talk" in Westminster Hall, which was shared with them by the Proprietor monks. Finally, in the 16th century, the parliament got its own "corner" in the chapel of St. Stephen, which, on this occasion, was equipped with galleries and benches, which radically changed the hall. True, the path to the chapel, one way or another, ran through the hall. Probably, the members of the Supreme Court were constantly irritated. This did not bother the Lords of the House of Commons, the idyll was destroyed by a fire in 1834. There was nowhere to sit.

A year later, it was decided to build a new one on the ashes of the old. There is interesting theory as to why the parliament was erected right on the banks of the river for a reason. After all, even with a strong desire, a crowd of revolutionaries would not surround the building, unless the rebels would have a talent for walking on water. The Elizabethan (Gothic) style, characteristic of English architecture of the late 16th century, was taken as the basis.

As a result, out of 97 options, the 91st was chosen, developed by Charles Berry. The result caused a significant resonance in society, but no matter what anyone said, the building at the moment turned into one of the main attractions of the city. Harmonious proportions, coupled with classical austerity, sweeping facades and beauty of outlines, are still eye-catching today. It is impossible not to notice a small flaw - the asymmetry of the location of the Victoria and Big Ben towers, which, in combination with the central turret with a spire, seem to hold back the building that occupies 3.2 hectares. It seems that without them, the palace would have covered all of London!

140 meters victoria tower precedes the royal portal to the parliament, and the 98-meter St Stephen's Tower equipped with a clockwork and a bell named after Big Ben weighing 13.5 tons! During the sessions, the state flag flies over the first tower, and the second is pulled out of the darkness by a searchlight beam. Three kilometers of corridors, a hundred stairs, more than a thousand rooms, a complex layout - it's already impressive, but you won't get by with "bare" facts. Houses of Lords and Commons, ceremonial halls, polling rooms, libraries, refectories, utility rooms - Berry managed to calculate with pinpoint accuracy what exactly and where exactly should be located, which corridor should be connected and what should be adjacent to. Bravo architect!

In the northern part Parliament were the House of Lords, the Royal Gallery, which included a hall where the royal person was dressed, as well as a waiting room, in which members of the House argued before making private decisions. In the southern part The building housed the House of Commons, its lobby, the voting room and the speaker's office. From both parts of Parliament, along the corridors, the lords fell to the central hall: petitions were considered here, press conferences were held, tourists and curious townspeople scurried around. From this room you can get to St. Stephen's Hall, which appeared on the site of the burnt chapel, from here you can clearly see the interior of Westminster Hall.

Berry owes much to Pugin, thanks to whose imagination the ornate carvings appeared on the facades and towers of the palace. Auguster Pugin He was also engaged in decorating interiors, he didn’t know the measures, and therefore there are rooms in which there is no “living” place left. Solid wood, velvet, mosaics, frescoes, wallpapers and niches. On the floors - tiles of cinnamon, blue and yellow shades. The patterns are small, overly detailed, the colors are rich. The bourgeoisie wept with delight, but modern visitors want to squint - it dazzles in the eyes. Alas, skill is lost due to overload.

Houses of Lords got all the best: on the ceilings heraldry of birds, flowers, animals and others like them. On the walls there is a wooden cladding, over which frescoes are placed, 18 bronze statues-barons occupy niches between the windows, from where they “look” at the canopy of the royal throne, rows of benches in red leather and the place of the Lord Chancellor, reminiscent of interesting tradition. The chancellor, robed in black and gold, always sat on a bale stuffed with wool, the source of British wealth. The bag has long migrated to the museum, but the tradition is alive. The chairman of the chamber puts on a white wig and opens the meeting, sitting on the "soft". There is a bronze railing at the north end of the room indicating the "seat" of the members of the House of Commons and their speaker during sessions.

During World War II, the part of the palace that belonged to the House of Commons was damaged. During the reconstruction, the old Gothic style was preserved. But the stone and wood carvings, decorative elements that weaved all the details of the interior into a single picture, could not be repeated. And the appearance of modern spotlights completely dispelled the spell. In fairness, it should be noted that even with the former elegance the House of Commons was inferior to the House of Lords. What hasn't changed is oak paneling on the walls and green leather on the benches.

By the way, at the beginning of the 17th century, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the parliament, since then, on an annual basis, on an annual basis, the Strada, dressed up in the old manner, is armed with halberds and lanterns, going to search the corridors and cellars of the palace. Everyone understands that no one will find powder kegs, but tradition of exposing the gunpowder plot has been observed for 3 centuries.

Another tradition has come down to our days. If the meeting lasts until late at night, then the question bounces off the palace walls "Who's going home?". Previously, the streets of London did not dare to be called safe, and members of the House did not risk independent walks, forming into “flocks”. Today, London is flooded with electric lights, and respectable cars are waiting for parliamentarians, but as before, “Who's going home?” is heard.

The brightest tradition can be called the opening ceremony of the parliamentary session, in which both the queen and all members of the government and both chambers take part.

Well, since we have already seen so many English castles

Then we can’t get past the Palace of Westminster. And its history 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 origins, Parliament did not have its own residence for a long time: 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 a royal palace was erected in its place. 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 authentic "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, furnished with the same sumptuous 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 armchair, 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 parliamentarians and the "outside world", so there is always a revival here and there are 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 of modern forms have 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 the architecture of Western Europe, the wooden roof of which, moreover, is 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.

It is usually customary to compare them with the frames of ancient frigates, as if turned upside down. But this comparison by no means reveals the full complexity of the construction, the high level of 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, the almost classical austerity and wide scope of its facades, and at the same time, the picturesqueness of its outlines as a whole, invariably impresses. 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 the features of the parliamentary structure, the traditions that have long accompanied meetings, and the daily business life of the 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. The dais at the end of the hall offers the best view of 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.

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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On the banks of the Thames. Connects to Trafalgar Square by Whitehall Street.

The first palace on this dream was built almost a thousand years ago as the residence of the English kings. Construction began in 1042 on the initiative of King Edward the Confessor, as a replacement for the Tower, a palace-fortress in the old part of London. By that time, the Tower was surrounded by urban development, he found himself in the midst of the life of the London poor, among the poverty and overcrowding of the common people.

So, the English monarchs decided to move to a more secluded place.

Solitary turned out to be a swamp on the banks of the Thames next to the Benedictine monastery. The swamp was drained and in 1042 a new royal residence was erected. Forty-five years later, for William II the Red - the second son of William the Conqueror - Westminster Hall was built, in which meetings of the Supreme Court of England and coronation banquets were held. It was the most elegant building in Europe.

At the end of the 14th century, Westminster Hall was rebuilt. The talented London mason Henry Yevel laid out the walls. The royal carpenter Hugh Erland was involved in the construction of the famous wooden floors.

This is one of the most grandiose medieval halls known in the architecture of Western Europe. The area of Westminster Hall is 1800 square meters. Its height is 28 meters. The wooden roof does not have any supporting pillars. The span of the hall, 21 meters wide, is covered with open carved oak rafters, which rest on a complex system of wooden brackets that are strongly extended forward.

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

From the 14th to the 19th century, for five hundred years, Westminster Hall served mainly two purposes: it was the hall where the Supreme Court of England sat, and the place for coronation banquets. Its history is closely connected with the history of England. All the major trials of these five centuries took place here. In this hall, the death sentence was pronounced for Charles I, Thomas More, Guy Fawkes, who led the "gunpowder plot". In Westminster Hall in 1653, Oliver Cromwell was proclaimed Lord Protector of the English Republic, and eight years later, after the restoration of the monarchy, Cromwell's remains were removed from the grave, and his head was put on the roof of the same Westminster Hall.

Westminster Hall ceased to be the center of the turbulent events of London life already in the 19th century. Merchants of cloth and books were forever expelled from the hall, whose trays at the end of the 17th century brought noisy fuss into the walls of the hall. A courthouse was built in the City, and the last coronation banquet was held in this hall in 1832.

And this hall has survived to this day. He is almost a thousand years old! Westminster Hall in London is the best and most expressive monument of medieval secular architecture.

It connects with the parliament building, built already in the 19th century, the portal of St. Stephen.

Until 1529, English kings lived in the palace. Already in the first centuries of its existence, the building began to perform another function. It all started with the fact that eighteen barons, who were in opposition to royal power, in 1215 forced the English king John Landless to sign the Magna Carta, which laid the foundation for the English constitution. A few years later, one of the leaders of the opposition, Baron Simon de Montfort, convened the first English Parliament. Parliament for a long time did not have its own residence: meetings had to be held either in Westminster Hall, or to share the Chapter Hall of Westminster Abbey with the monks. Only after the Palace of Westminster ceased to be a royal residence, the English Parliament in 1547 received its permanent seat in the palace in St. Stephen's Chapel.

This was not very convenient, since the entrance to the chapel lay through Westminster Hall, where the Supreme Court of England sat. Despite these inconveniences, until the fire of 1834, the House of Commons met in St. Stephen's Chapel.

The fire of 1834 almost completely destroyed the palace. Only Westminster Hall and the Tower of Jewels survived, which was built in the 14th century to store the treasury of Edward III.

It was decided to build a new palace on the same site. According to legend, this decision was largely determined by the location on the banks of the Thames, since the parliament building, in the event of popular unrest, cannot be surrounded by a revolutionary crowd.

Of the ninety-seven projects submitted to the competition, ninety-one were made in the Gothic style. The project of the architect Charles Barry (1795-1860), a young architect who had already attracted attention with a number of buildings, was recognized as the best.

Only the preparatory work before the start of construction took three years - they had to build terraces along the Thames. The construction of the palace was carried out by the architect in 1840-1888. together with Augustus Welby Pugin, building a neo-Gothic parliamentary complex. The British Empire built for its parliament a building of rare splendor and size even according to the tastes of that time.

The building of the Palace of Westminster, which is now simply called the Parliament, is currently one of the largest buildings in the world. The following figures amaze the imagination: 3.2 hectares of area, 1,200 rooms, 5 kilometers of corridors, 100 stairs.

Despite its size, the Parliament building does not overwhelm with its enormous size. The correctly found proportionality of the main volumes of such a significant structure deserves admiration. From a distance, the wide scope and almost classical austerity of its facades make a great impression. The Parliament is especially beautiful in the evenings, when its towers and spiers are clearly visible in the dark sky, bathed in the light of searchlights. The unique originality is given to it by two towers, asymmetrically located in the northern and southern parts of the palace. The mighty, square in plan, Victoria Tower and the huge clock tower, together with a small turret with a spire, placed above the central hall, not only decorate the palace, but also balance the huge length of its facades with their height.

In many respects, the architect Charles Barry owed his success in the construction of the Palace of Westminster to cooperation with O. Pugin, an enthusiast and connoisseur of English Gothic. Being an excellent draftsman, passionately in love with the art of the Middle Ages, O. Pugin also participated in the development of the details of the facades of the palace. It was thanks to his inventive imagination that the facades of the Palace of Westminster and its towers were decorated with intricate stone carvings.

The most famous is the tower, often called Big Ben. In fact, this is the tower of St. Stephen. And Big Ben is the name of the bell specially cast for the tower. As often happens, later the tower itself, which became the hallmark of London, began to be called “Big Ben”.

This tower was conceived as a clock, and it was decided to install a clock and a bell on it, which would be the largest in the world.

Seven years elapsed between the moment such a decision was made and the start of work. A number of projects were considered over the years, and in the end the commission settled on the design of Edmund Beckett Denison, who promised that all requirements would be met. The clock and bell, created according to his project, for a long time remained the largest in the world.

The tower is equipped with a clock mechanism, which is highly accurate.

When creating the Big Ben clock, the commission set a condition: the advance or lag of the clock mechanism should not exceed one second per day. Most watchmakers argued that this requirement, with the current development of technology, is unrealistic. However, Edmund Beckett Denison was able to produce such a mechanism in five years. Its weight is 5 tons, and the accuracy was required until the Second World War. During the war, due to bombing, the violation of accuracy increased to 2 seconds per day. With the help of a coin of one penny, which is placed on a four-meter pendulum, they guessed to adjust the movement of the mechanism.

The clock of the tower of St. Stephen is sometimes called the “main clock” of the state. With four 9-meter dials, the clock was arranged under the direction of the famous astronomer Erie. Time is beaten off by the hour bell, which weighs almost 14 tons. This is the famous Big Ben!

True, the bell, due to the pursuit of weight, began to fulfill its functions only on the third attempt. Cast by Edmund Beckett Denison using the latest technology from the latest alloy, the 16-ton bell broke after the first blow. Two months later, the bell cracked due to the tongue being too heavy. And only from the third time, when all the parameters were taken into account, the bell began to perform its functions. The fight of Big Ben is constantly broadcast by English radio stations. Its sound is heard by millions of people every hour on the radio.

Where did this name come from - Big Ben, or "Big Benjamin"? There are as many as three versions to date.

Most often, the origin of the name is associated with Benjamin Hall, the construction superintendent. His height was great.

According to the second version, the bell was named after the then popular boxer Benjamin Count. His fists were big.

According to the third version, Benjamin Hall, nicknamed Big Ben, was the name of the chairman of the parliamentary commission (there is an option that this was the name of the Minister of Public Works). The discussion on the topic "How to name the bell" is too long. After a long speech by Benjamin Hall on this subject, no one understood the essence of his proposal. At the end of the speech, while the speaker was taking a breath, one of the listeners, in order to save the day, suggested calling the bell "Big Ben"! Those present, overjoyed at the unexpected rescue, applauded.

Big Ben is not the highest tower of the palace - its height is 96.3 meters, while the height of the Victoria Tower is 102 meters (according to other sources - 98.45 meters).

During the construction of the Victoria Tower, it was taken into account that its purpose was to store the documents of Parliament. Its external and internal structure had to be fireproof. It was necessary to take into account the sad experience of the events of 1834, when all documents were burned in a fire, except for those in the Jewels Tower. The construction of the walls was quite bold for those times - a cast-iron frame in the thickness of the masonry. The foundation stone of the tower was laid by Queen Victoria herself.

The Victoria Tower marks the royal entrance to Parliament. During the session, the British national flag is hoisted on it.

Parliament consists of two chambers: the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

The northern part of the building, with the Victoria Tower towering above it, is occupied by the House of Lords and the premises associated with it by parliamentary ceremonial.

The monarch ascends the Royal Staircase to the Norman Portico and from there enters the Hall of the Royal Robe. The Royal Robe Hall is still adorned with paintings by William Dick, which depict historical scenes from the reign of King Arthur. Passing further, through the Royal Gallery, where statues of English rulers are installed - from King Alfred to Queen Anne - the monarch passes into the Prince's room with a sculpture of Queen Victoria, and then solemnly enters the House of Lords.

The House of Lords is the most ornate room in Parliament. Decorative techniques found in the interior decoration of the entire palace reach their climax here. Carving on stone and wood, many frescoes and paintings - the best masters worked to fill this hall, for many years, turning into centuries. The ceiling is completely covered with images of heraldic animals, birds, flowers, etc. Colored stained-glass windows are inserted into the windows. A royal throne with an inlaid canopy, rows of benches covered in bright red leather, eighteen bronze statues of barons who obtained Magna Carta from King John, standing in niches between the windows - you will see this when visiting the famous hall. In the House of Lords, parliamentarians are divided into two categories - Lords Secular and Lords Spiritual.

The majority in the chamber in past centuries belonged to the spiritual lords - representatives of the Anglican Church. At present, the preponderance is on the side of secular lords who bear the title of baron or baroness. As in the old days, the speaker - the Lord Chancellor - sits on a wool sack. This tradition recalls the time when England, being the world's main producer of wool, exported this valuable commodity. An interesting fact is that recently wool from other Commonwealth countries has been added to the bag.

In the southern half of the palace, which is crowned by Big Ben, is the hall of the House of Commons. It is decorated much more modestly than the House of Lords. The walls are finished with red oak, above - balconies for spectators and the press. Benches upholstered in green leather are provided for deputies. To the right of the speaker are representatives of the ruling party, and to the left of the opposition. Not far from the entrance is the speaker's chair surrounded by iron bars. Red lines are drawn between rows of benches. The distance from line to line is two sword lengths. This is also a tradition, the distance is such that respectable parliamentarians do not get each other's blades. Crossing the line is considered to have attacked the opponent.

During World War II, German aircraft destroyed the House of Commons. The new reconstruction was led by Gil Gilbert Scott. The restoration of the palace was a difficult and costly process, as the highest quality wood was required. During the restoration work, the general Gothic character of the architecture was preserved. But the decoration details carved in stone and wood, and many items of decoration that previously constituted a single stylistic complex with the entire room, were not repeated. The artistic integrity of the appearance of the hall was even more violated by the introduction of lighting spotlights of modern forms. Restoration dragged on until 1950.

Between the House of Lords and the House of Commons there are several halls and corridors. The Hall of the Peers is decorated with the coats of arms of six royal dynasties. From here you can get into the Central Hall, which has an octagonal shape. As in the Royal Gallery, there are sculptural portraits of the royal family. In the center of the palace is the oldest part - Westminster Hall.

In addition to the main halls, the palace has many rooms for commissions and committees.

The Palace of Westminster has been open for tours since 2004. During the tour, you can see the royal gallery, the royal dressing room, the debate chamber and, at the end of the tour, Westminster Hall, the one that was built in the 11th century. Here visitors can see an exhibition dedicated to the history of parliamentary democracy in England and visit the gift shop. Such a tour can only be taken from August 6 to September 16 of each year, during the holidays of parliamentarians.

But you can get to the meetings of the House of Lords or the House of Commons throughout the year, every day, except weekends. After checking, you will be given a memo with a list of what you should never do: read during the discussion, applaud and look at the parliamentarians through binoculars.

Many traditions are associated with the English Parliament.

In 1605, Guy Fawkes, who led the Gunpowder Plot, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Since then, the guards, dressed in ancient costumes, with lanterns and halberds, search the cellars and back streets of the palace on November 5 every year, although everyone knows in advance that they will not find any barrels of gunpowder in these rooms. This tradition of searching for intruders continues in the new building of the palace, built two and a half centuries after the "gunpowder plot".

Another tradition is also interesting, which is observed if the meeting of the House of Commons ends late at night. At the end of the meeting, under the vaults of the palace and in our time, you can hear the exclamation: “Who is going home?” The dark streets of London were far from safe in ancient times, and parliamentarians tried to return home in large groups. And although the Palace of Westminster and the surrounding streets are now flooded with bright electric light, and comfortable cars are waiting for MPs at the entrances, “Who's going home?” still sounds like centuries ago. And there are a great many such traditions in the Palace of Westminster today. And the most important of them is the annual, magnificent and elaborate ceremony of the grand opening of the parliamentary session with the participation of the queen, all members of the government and deputies of both chambers.

The Palace of Westminster has 1200 rooms, 100 staircases and 5 kilometers of corridors. Anyone can observe the work of the House of Commons and the House of Lords - the premises of Parliament are open all week at different times of the day. Line up at St. Stephen's Gate and after passing through several security checkpoints, you can reach the visitor's gallery.

In August and September, when Parliament is closed, you can take a guided tour of the entire building.

Of the palace towers, the most famous clock tower is the Elizabeth Tower, most often called Big Ben, although this is actually the name of the 13-ton bell that rings in the chiming system. Big Ben is known all over the world, and the tower is a universally recognized symbol of London. Perhaps the best view of the Houses of Parliament is from the south side, from the river, and at night the illuminated towers and spiers look extremely romantic.

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In the 11th century, Edward the Confessor built the first Palace of Westminster on the banks of the Thames. All monarchs lived here until Henry VIII, who had to move from Westminster after the fire. Since then it has housed the Parliament. In 1834, the old palace burned down again, leaving only the Palace Hall and the Jewel Tower. After the fire, it was decided to rebuild the complex, and as a result, the building acquired its present appearance with the famous Gothic spiers.

The Palace of Westminster, or Parliament House, one of the most famous buildings in the world, is undoubtedly a symbol and decoration of London. It houses the stronghold of English democracy, the British Parliament: the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

This building arose in 1840-1860 on the site of an old palace 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 most architecturally valuable part of the old palace - 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.

In 1965, England solemnly celebrated the 750th anniversary of the Magna Carta, usually referred to in Latin as Magna Carta, and the 700th anniversary of the English Parliament. However, despite its ancient origin and wide popularity outside the country, the House of Commons did not have its own residence for a long time. It was necessary to hold meetings in the ancient Westminster Hall or to share the territory of the Chapter Hall of Westminster Abbey with its owners-monks. It was only in 1547 that the parliament received a permanent residence in the chapel of St. Stephen of the old Palace of Westminster. In order to adapt the chapel of the 13th-14th centuries to the procedure of parliamentary sessions, it had to be completely built up with benches and galleries, which distorted the architectural appearance of the hall. In addition, the entrance to the chapel lay through Westminster Hall, where the Supreme Court of England sat. And yet, despite these inconveniences, the House of Commons met in the chapel of St. Stephen until the fire of 1834, which again left it without a permanent meeting place.

By the summer of 1835, a special commission presented its recommendation - to build a new palace in the old place. According to legend, the choice of location was also largely determined by the consideration that, being on the banks of the Thames, the parliament building, in the event of popular unrest, could not be surrounded by a revolutionary crowd. It was recommended to build the palace in the Gothic or Elizabethan style.

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. If you look at it from afar, the almost classical rigor and wide scope of its facades, and at the same time, the picturesqueness of its outlines as a whole, invariably impresses. 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 is better known as St. Stephen's Tower. 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" specially cast for the tower, weighing 13.5 tons, strikes the clock. The fight of Big Ben 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.

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 the 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.

In 1605, Guy Fawkes, who led the Gunpowder Plot, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Since then, on November 5 of each year, the guards, dressed in ancient costumes, with lanterns and halberds, search the cellars and nooks and crannies of the palace, although it is well known in advance that they will not find any barrels of gunpowder in these rooms. Moreover, the search is going on in the new building of the palace, built already two and a half centuries after the “gunpowder plot”.

In 1987, the palace and the nearby Church of Saint Margaret were honored to be inscribed on the World Heritage List.

If the meeting of the House of Commons ends late at night, then even now, under the vaults of the palace, you can hear the exclamation: “Who is going home?” In ancient times, the dark streets of London were far from safe, and parliamentarians preferred to return home in large groups. Now the building of the Palace of Westminster and the surrounding streets are flooded with bright electric light, and comfortable cars are waiting for members of parliament at the entrances. However, "Who's going home?" still sounds like centuries ago. And there are a great many such traditions observed in Westminster today. The most important of these is the annual, lavish and elaborate opening ceremony of the parliamentary session, attended by the queen, all members of the government and deputies of both chambers.

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