The Houses of Parliament

What is it?

the oldest in the world a symbol of London the administrative centre of the kingdom

Westminster Palace

Where is Westminster Palace situated?

• The New Palace of Westminster – the correct name of the Houses of Parliament – stands on the left/west bank of the River Thames close to the historic Westminster Abbey.

• It is located between the

Westminter and Lambeth Bridges, south of Trafalgar Square.

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Is the building old?

• The building of the Houses of Parliament which is in the Gothic style is not old; it was built in the middle of the last century instead of the ancient Houses of Parliament (destroyed by fire).

What does it look like?

• Westminster Palace is a massive building in the Perpendicular (["pKpqn'dIkjUlq] прямоугольный) Gothic style but with symmetrical proportions.

• It is a very large building, 872 ft (265 m) long; it covers an area of 8 acres (3.2 hectares).

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1 foot = 30.5 cm

Westminster Palace, here viewed from the London Eye.

The Union Flag is flying from the Victoria Tower, indicating that Parliament is sitting.

The outside appearance• The outside appearance of

the Houses of Parliament is known throughout the world with their soaring ['sLrIN] (летящие ввысь) spires ['spaIqz] (шпили) and battlements (зубчатые стены).

• The design reflects the Palace’s majestic history, with ornate [L'neIt] (богато украшенной) carvings (резьбой), turrets ['tArIts] (башенки) and tremendous towers.

Can you see any symbols on the walls of the Houses of Parliament?

Two towers• There are two towers there:

the Clock Tower with the bell Big Ben (96 m high) in it, and the Victoria Tower (98 m high) at the other end from the Clock Tower,

• When Parliament sits, the flag flies over the Victoria Tower by day and a light in the Clock Tower burns above Big Ben at night.

which holds theParliamentary Archives.

The Clock Tower• The Clock Tower, completed in

1858, is so well known that it has become a symbol of the city of London, an emblem of parliamentary democracy.

• It stands impressively over the Houses of Parliament.

• The clock stopped on three occasions during the war, the last time in January 1945 when the clock mechanism froze.

Big Ben

• The height of the bell is 2 m, its diameter is about 3 m.

• The chimes imitate those of St Mary’s Church in Cambridge based on an aria in Handel’s Messiah.

• (Биг Бен и окружающие его другие небольшие колокола выбивают перезвон следующих слов: «Сквозь этот час Господь хранит меня, и сила его не даст никому оступиться.»)

• In fact Big Ben is the name of the massive 13.5-ton bell inside the tower that rings out the hour across the city of London.

• This bell was cast and pulled to Westminster by a wagon team of 16 (!) horses.

The Clock Tower

• Four faces of the clock are made of hoIIow ['hOlqu] (полая) copper (медь).

• (Циферблаты Биг Бена смотрят на все 4 стороны света. Сделаны они из Бирмингемского опала, часовые стрелки отлиты из чугуна, а минутные сделаны из медного листа).

The inside of the face

The Clock Tower• The clock’s 4 faces are

each 23 ft (7 m) in diameter.

• The minute hand is 14 ft (4.2 m) long, and the hour hand is 9ft (2.7 m) long, with 2 ft (60 cm) high figures.

• At the foot of every face there is a Latin sentence: “Domine salvam fac Reginam nostram Victoriam Primam” (“God save our Queen Victoria I”).

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1 foot = 30.5 cm

The Clock Tower

Every day, when people in the UK and overseas switch on their radio to listen to BBC radio news, they can hear one of the most famous sounds in London: chimes of Big Ben on the Houses of Parliament.

Inside the Palace

The Palace of Westminster includes over 1,100 rooms, 100 staircases and 4.8 km of passageways. The building includes four floors. The ground floor includes offices, dining rooms and bars.

The first (principal) floor houses the main rooms of the Palace, including the Chambers (The House of Lords and The House of Commons), the lobbies and the libraries.

The top-two floors are used for committee rooms and offices.

The plan of which floor is it?

It is the plan of the first (principal) floor.

It is the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The House of Lords The House of Commons

• The Palace of Westminster has been a part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

Le Parlement de Londres, Claude Monet, 1903, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

There is no casual access to the interior, but it may be seen in a number of ways:

• Viewing debates from the public galleries of the House of

Commons or the House of Lords: It is possible to queue for admission on the day, but capacity is limited and there is no guarantee of admission. Only a very small part of the Palace's interior may be seen. Either House may exclude "strangers" if it desires to sit in private.

• Tours during Parliamentary sessions: Overseas visitors may only tour Parliament during the summer recess.

• Summer opening: tours are available during a two-month period during the summer when Parliament is not sitting. These tours are open to both UK residents and overseas visitors.

• Television Viewing: live broadcasts of Parliamentary sessions can be viewed on BBC Parliament; recorded footage is shown when Parliament is not in session. The sessions are also occasionally rebroadcast in the United States via C-SPAN.

• Touring the Clock Tower: Currently, only UK Residents can tour the Clock Tower, by arranging a tour through their local MP.

How to get to Westminster Palace

To get to Westminster Palace: You can take the tube, exiting at Westminster or St. James Park stations. The Waterloo train station is just across the Themes from Westminster palace.

Sources of Information

1. Английский язык: Учебник для 10-11 классов общеобразователь-ных учреждений/ Кузовлев В.П. и др. – М.: Просвещение, 2003.

2. Журнал “Speak Out”.

3. Robert Wilson: The Houses of Parliament – Great Britain: Jarrold Publishing, 1995.

4. http://www.parliament.uk

5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Gallery#Other_rooms