When no actual tours are going ahead, the Government, like everyone else has to think outside the box and turn to technology. For a limited period only, they are offering free 45 minute guided online tours of the Palace of Westminster, and today, I booked myself onto one to see what it was like.
I was born in the UK and have visited London several times over the years, but never once had the opportunity of going inside our parliament. I have been a tourist elsewhere and seen inside the Austrian, Finnish, and USA parliaments, so I thought I really ought to educate myself one our own too.
Our guide, a knowledgable chap by the name of Felix, took us through much of the UK's parliamentary and governmental history starting some time before King John and his Magna Carta, and bringing us right up to date with Boris Johnson. He obviously loved the history and the pageantry that this rich history brings, and as we travelled virtually through the 9 rooms on the tour, he was very keen to keep explaining dates, events, people, and pivotal moments in the makings of our current political system. It was extremely interesting, but a little bit of an overload on a shortened virtual tour.
What might have been a little more preferable was to have given a little less of the history and focused more on the architecture, artefacts, rituals, paintings, etc since there was so much on display which was simply ignored. (except for a rather lengthy discourse on the few statues / items which obviously were of special interest to him).
The building as it appears today is a complete hybrid from several architects and constructions over the years. Hardly anything is left of the original palace built on this site and destroyed by fire; but Westminster Hall - the largest single enclosed space in the UK - has parts which still date back to 1097. Another fire rendered almost 90% of the building to the flames in 1834, and again some significant damage was withstood in the 1940 Blitz. However, what is clear is that the rebuilding of the palace was given love and attention, and rebuilt in an almost replica Victorian Gothic style, and no expense was clearly spared.
As well as The Westminster Hall, the tour took us in to The Central Lobby (the main entrance for all guests and tourists to assemble, and the midway point between the two chambers), The Members' Lobby (entrance to the Commons chamber), The Voting Lobby (there is one either side of the chambers - one for the ayes and one for the nays), both the Commons and Lords chambers, St Stephen's Hall (built on the site of an old royal chapel and still retains the look of a rather grandiose nave), The Princes' Chamber and my favourite room of all, The Royal Gallery. For all the world you would think that this room belonged in Buckingham Palace or similar, not in the place where parliament is held.. that is until you realise that the building IS a palace, and the monarch IS a part of our parliament and government. It's the room they use for the State Opening Of Parliament.
My only real negative criticism of this tour was that Felix had a rather irritating habit of continually moving the curser / picture - meaning that we never really had a completely still view of any of the rooms for more than a couple of seconds before he moved the photo up, down, to the side etc. I found that really rather distracting. Hopefully other guides will have steadier fingers and resist the temptation to move the image continually.
Educative, informative and it certainly has inspired me to make a trip to see the building in person when once we are allowed to again.
Reviewer- Alastair Zyggu
on - 14/9/20
No comments:
Post a Comment