Westminster Palace and Westminster Abbey.

Westminster Palace and Westminster Abbey. 

There are many places of interest in Great Britain, particularly in its capital city – London. One of the most beautiful buildings in London is Westminster Palace. It’s a huge structure on the bank of the river Thames in Westminster district of London.The building connects with the Trafalgar Square and Whitehall Street.

Originally, from 1529 the palace has been the English monarch’s residence. After the fire in 

1834, the building has been completely rebuilt and now it serves as the place of British Parliamentary meetings.Parliament is made up of two chambers - the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

The building contains about 1200 rooms, 100 stairs, and 5 kilometer of halls. The biggest and the oldest part of the building is called Westminster-hall. It was erected in 1097 and occupies the area of 1800 square kilometers. This room has once served a place of the English Supreme Court’s sessions. 

Westminster Palace has several high towers.

The most famous of all is Big Ben. Everybody knows that it’s the biggest clock in the world and that it’s the symbol of Great Britain.

By the way the world-famous Westminster Abbey is situated right behind the Westminster Palace.

Westminster Abbey is a place where all English kings and queens were crowned and Royal wedding ceremonies took place. It is the place where many outstanding Englishmen are buried, among them well-known poets, writers, scientists,painters, statesmen as Queen Elizabeth I, William Shakespeare, Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, Lord Byron, Walter Scott, and many others. 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.   There is something special and wonderful about this building, the church is very high and has a magnificent exterior.