The City of Westminster is one of the most historic areas in London as it contains both the seat of Government and the crowning place of kings and queens. The Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey face each other across Parliament Square , where statues of Sir Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Disraeli and several other statesmen stand . To the north of century. Samuel Pepys , John Milton and Sir Winston Churchill were all married there and it is also the burial place of Sir Walter Raleigh.
The present Houses of Parliament were completed in 1866 on the site of the old Palace of Westminster , the principal residence of the monarch between the reigns of Edward the Confessor and Henry VIII. Most of the old palace was destroyed in a fire in 1834 , but fortunately the magnificent Westminster Hall, which had been build between 1907 and 1099 by William Rufus, survived. The hammerbeam roof of the hall is the earliest and largest of its kind in existence , having been constructed between 1394 and 1401 , and the hall itself was the traditional venue for the lying in state of monarchs .
The two principal chambers of the Houses of Parliament- the House of Commons and the House of Lords –are set either side of a central hall and corridor . The present House of Commons is new , as its predecessor was destroyed by enemy action in 1941, and at its entrance stands the Churchill Arch , constructed from stone salvaged from de original structure. The House of Lords is an ornately furnished chamber with red leather peers ´benches and the woolsack , the traditional seat of the Lord Chancellor. Behind this is the throne from which the Queen ceremonially opens each session of Parliament .
The clock tower , almost 98 metres (320 feet) high , contains Big Ben , the hour bell weighing more than 13 tonnes. The four clocks faces each have a diameter of more than 6 metres(22 feet). A church has stood on the current site of Westminster Abbey since Saxon times , but the abbey itself was founded by Edward the Confessor in 1050 as a Benedictine monastery and made the crowning place of English sovereigns : since William the Conqueror all coronations except those of Edward V and Edward VIII have taken place here. The rebuilding of the abbey was begun by Henry III between 1216 and 1272 and between 1503 and 1519 Henry VII added the chapel to the eastern end. The towers, which are almost 69 metres´(225 feet) high ,, were added in the mid eighteen century by Nicholas Hawksmoor.
Many English sovereigns , politicians , poets , scientists and other well-know people are buried or remembered in the abbey , and it is also the site of the tomb of the Unknown Warrior, as well as the Coronation Chair and the Stone of Scone , on which the Scottish kings were once crowned. Westminster Cathedral is the largest and most important Roman Catholic church in England. Although its architecture is Early Byzantine in style, it is nevertheless relatively modern, having been begun in 1895 and consecrated in 1910. The interior is embellished with striking marble and mosaics , whilst externally the most prominent feature is the campanile, which is 83 metres (273 feet) high and is surmounted by across 3 metres (11 feet) high.

 

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