Today in class we had a timely discussion about Parliament building, or the Palace of Westminster if you want to get technical. I say timely because yesterday some Greenpeace activists had a little adventure there, out on the roof. (And a day or two before that, they practiced the same stunt at H'row, on top of a BA jet.)
After the buildings were destroyed by fire in 1834, there was a contest to design new Parliament buildings. They had to be Gothic in style (to match Westminster Abbey), and the only people allowed to enter the contest were Anglicans.
A guy named Augustus Pugin had a really great design, but unfortunately, he was Roman Catholic. So he teamed up with Sir Charles Barry, and their design—which was mostly Pugin's—won the contest. He has only recently been given the recognition he deserves.
I would post a photo, but you can see it at the top of this blog. And speaking of photos, we're finally to the point in the class where we get to see actual photos instead of drawings and paintings of London. Several of the slides we viewed today were photos taken by Fox Talbot, who apparently didn't spend all his time at Lacock Abbey. I love looking at old photos, so my thanks to Fox, who bothered to invent the process in 1835—sadly, a bit too late to capture the previous Parliament building on film, or rather, plate.
