Palace of Westminster, London

The Palace of Westminster rises before you as the working home of the United Kingdom’s Parliament, with its elaborate Gothic Revival architecture and the Elizabeth Tower standing among its most recognisable features. Charles Barry designed the new palace, with Augustus Pugin supplying its Gothic detail. The tower contains the bell known as Big Ben, while the building holds chambers for the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Its story reaches back to a royal palace built in the eleventh century, and Westminster Hall survives from that earlier complex. A fire in 1834 destroyed most of the palace, but the hall was saved and woven into Barry’s replacement design. Construction began in 1840 and continued for 30 years, bringing delays, rising costs and the deaths of both Barry and Pugin.

The building also endured wartime bombing: during the Second World War, the Commons Chamber was destroyed and later rebuilt, while Westminster Hall was preserved. Parliament still meets here, and the palace remains a Grade I listed building and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.