Palace of Westminster

The Palace of Westminster is more commonly known as Big Ben and was the residence of the Kings of England from the eleventh to the sixteenth century. In 1834 almost the entire Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire. Westminster Hall and the remains of St. Stephens were then incorporated into the new Houses of Parliament, a building designed by Sir Charles Barry that took more than thirty years to construct. The Houses of Parliament were hit by an air raid during the Second World War and the House of Commons Chamber was destroyed. The Chamber has since been rebuilt in the image of the original. Audio tours of the Houses of Parliament offer a unique combination of one thousand years of history, modern day politics and stunning art and architecture.