United Kingdom · GB

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper chamber of the UK Parliament, meeting in the red-and-gold splendour of the Palace of Westminster on the banks of the Thames. More than a working legislature, it is one of the most lavishly decorated sets of rooms in Britain—a place where centuries of history, neo-Gothic architecture and living political ritual sit side by side, and where the public can watch law-making unfold for free from the gallery above the chamber. What draws visitors here is the rare combination of grandeur and accessibility. You can stand in the Lords Chamber where the King's throne rises on its dais, wander the Royal Gallery hung with Napoleonic battle scenes, and look up at a ceiling studded with the emblems of medieval kings—all within an active government building that still debates the news of the day.