I've been to a couple of parliaments around the world during my travels - Germany and New Zealand - but funny enough never to the one in my own country. On my visit to London last month, I decided to be a tourist to visit the Parliament and see where our democracy is carried out. Our parliament is officially called the Palace of Westminster because it's located in an area called Westminster in London.
Palace of Westminster
British citizens can arrange a free visit through our MP (Member of Parliament) but they're pretty useless. I emailed a request to my MP a few weeks before my visit, that's over a month ago, she still hasn't responded. It's much quicker to pay the £26 entrance fee, that is £26 more than I paid to visit the parliaments in Germany or New Zealand but I still think it's worth it though.
The parliament building is connected to this iconic building in London - Big Ben. If you see Big Ben, you will find the parliament.
This diagram below will give you an idea of where we will be visiting today. Big Ben is on the left and the Victoria Tower is on the right. In between are the two houses. The House of Lords is in green, that's the upper house, and is often called the Senate in other countries. The House of Common is the orange section next to Victoria Tower. That is where the MPs voted by the public meets and argue debate things that matter to our country and hopefully find a solution to it.
We will start our tour at Westminster Hall in a minute, that's the white horizontal part with an arrow pointing in. From there we'll go to St Stephen's Hall, that's the white vertical part on the diagram, and then to the two Houses. Unfortunately, we're not allowed to take any photos inside the two Houses, so I can't show you what it looks like there.
I can show you what it looks like outside. The Big Ben is on the left, and Victoria Tower on the right. The House of Commons is inside this building here.
Westminster Hall
After an airport style security search, I entered the Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the Parliament building that dates back to 1097. This is view from the entrance and it's quite overwhelming. At 73 x 20m, it was the largest hall in England when built, and possibly the largest in Europe. It used to be used for banquets, coronations and as a court room in the old days.
Today it is more well known as the place for lyings in state for the royal family. I remember when I was attending the Hivefest in Amsterdam in September 2022, our last queen had just died. A week after her death, her body was moved here for the public to come and pay their respects. It was the first time there was life TV broadcast of the event for those who couldn't make it to London or didn't want to queue for hours or even overnight to get in. During those 5 days lying in state, about 250 thousand people came here to pay their respects to the Queen. That included David Beckham who started queuing at 2am and queued for 13 hours with the general public.
Back to our tour. I joined a self guided tour and got an audio device so I could walk around at my own pace. I much prefer this than a guided tour. I also had to wear the visitor badge at all times.
The Westminster Hall is a magnificent piece of architecture. It's nearly 1000 years old, and one can really feel what old feels like when you're inside. The hammer beam roof is particularly impressive. This was built in the 14th century, 300 years after the hall was originally built. The roof is made of oak and is 28 meters high. Wooden arches met centrally in a span of 18 metres (60 feet) or more. Source You can see how massive and high Westminster Hall is with the people standing inside. And when you think back a thousand years ago the people didn't have the tools and technology we have today, building this would have been an amazing feat back then.
There's a flight of at the other end of the hall and a big stained glass window. Often the stained glass windows I see are more of a religious nature. This one here commemorates the staff and members of parliament who died in the war. I thought that's a very nice touch because the parliament is a democratic institution for the people.
New Dawn
The entrance to St Stephen's hall is to the left of the big stained glass window. Before we go in, I want to show you this piece of modern glass art installation outside called New Dawn.
The New Dawn was installed in 2016 and marks 150 years since the fight for women's suffrage began. During those years many activists would have lobbied at this very point, the entrance to parliament. All those hand blown glass dots represents those people involved. I think the bright art work is a nice contrast to the rest of the historical building, and located at a very fitting location.
In 1928 all women were eligible to vote in UK but it's beggar's belief why we had to fight for this right in the first place!
St Stephen hall
In 1834 the parliament chapel was burnt down and St Stephen's hall was rebuilt in its place. This is the public's entrance to parliament, hence the significance of installing New Dawn outside. The hall has a very different vibe from Westminster Hall. For a start, it's some 800 years newer. If you have time, you can learn a lot about British history here from the paintings on the wall about major historical events. And then there are 12 statues of notable parliamentarians lined up on both sides of the hall, some with their hands stretched out as if they were welcoming visitors.
The Houses
The other end of St Stephen's Hall leads into the Central Lobby and the heart of parliament. This includes the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Unfortunately no photos were allowed after St Stephens Hall. All I can say it was pretty amazing to walk around parliament, which I only get to see on TV. I even walked inside the Houses, and stood at the very benches where the members normally sit and debate.
I picked up a few visitor leaflets inside, I always like to take some memorabilia with me when I visit places
After thought
Being an ex political studies student, the visit to the Parliament was very interesting for me. From a history and architecture point of view, I like to learn about these topics, and I think immersing yourself in something physical is the best way to do this. If you're ever in London and want to experience this for yourself, you can book your tickets here. https://www.parliament.uk/visiting/visiting-and-tours/
