Переведите текст The Houses of Parliament The two Houses of Parliament, the Lords and the Commons share the same building, the Palace of Westminster, on the left bank of the river Thames. The Palace of Westminster was the pri...

Переведите текст The Houses of Parliament The two Houses of Parliament, the Lords and the Commons share the same building, the Palace of Westminster, on the left bank of the river Thames. The Palace of Westminster was the principal residence of the kings of England from the middle of the eleventh century to 1512. Now little remains of the original buildings except Westminster Hall. Although the Lords were from the first accommodated in the Palace, the Commons had no permanent meeting place of their own until 1547, when all private chapels were abolished. The most splendid, the Royal Chapel of St Stephen within the Palace was handed over to the Commons, who assembled there until 1834, when the Palace was burnt down and the present Houses of Parliament were built. The fire destroyed the whole of the Palace of Westmins¬ter, except for Westminster Hall and the crypt of St Stephen's Chapel. The present Houses of Parliament (except for the Commons Chamber which was rebuilt after its destruction by air attack in 1941) are the work of the architect Charles Barry, who retained the old church-like design. On approaching the Houses of Parliament the visitor is immediately struck by the great four-faced clock tower named after Sir Benjamin Hall, Commis¬sioner of Works, when it was erected. Big Ben, 329 feet high, with minute hands 14 feet long and a bell weighting 13 1/2 tons, came into operation in 1859. A light at the top of the clock tower, where the famous Big Ben strikes is kept on for as long as the House is sitting. The eastern facade of the Houses of Parliament facing the river is severely ecclesiastical, with twin towers at each end and rich embellishments. On the western facade, under Big Ben is New Palace Yard, where Members park their cars and the stone-mounting block reminds us of by-gone days. The New Palace of Westminster (as it is called) contains 1,200 rooms, 2 miles of passages, 100 staircases, 13 quadrangles, 130 statues, 26 policemen and 34 doorkeepers; 251 people, including 55 cleaners are responsible for maintenance. Three-quarters of a million tourists a year pass through the building, but most of the palace is closed to the public. Inside the public entrance is the beautiful old Westminster Hall, now only a vast corridor, and beyond the Member's cloakroom, where the reconstruction after the Second World War restored the sword-tapes, side by side with the umbrella stands. The Central Lobby (the Parliamentary term for a passage or a hall) is where the Members meet their constituents. On the walls of the lobby we can follow a pictorial history, by famous artists of The Building of Britain. From the Central Lobby, corridors lead to the House of Lords on the right and to the House of Commons on the left.