6075 x 4050 px | 51,4 x 34,3 cm | 20,3 x 13,5 inches | 300dpi
Date de la prise de vue:
14 juin 2010
Lieu:
College Green, Dublin, Ireland
Informations supplémentaires:
The Irish Houses of Parliament (Irish: Tithe na Parlaiminte), also known as the Irish Parliament House, today called the Bank of Ireland, College Green due to its use as by the bank, was the world's first purpose-built two-chamber parliament house. It served as the seat of both chambers (the Lords and Commons) of the Irish parliament of the Kingdom of Ireland for most of the eighteenth century until that parliament was abolished by the Act of Union of 1800, when the island became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The original house was in a dilapidated state, allegedly haunted and unfit for parliamentary use. In 1727 parliament voted to spend £6, 000 on the building of a new parliament building on the site. It was to be the first purpose-built two-chamber parliament building in the world. The then ancient Palace of Westminster, the seat of the English (before 1707) and later British parliament, was merely a converted building; the House of Commons's odd seating arrangements was due to the chamber's previous existence as a chapel. Hence MPs faced each other from former pews, a seating arrangement continued when the new British Houses of Parliament were built in the mid-nineteenth century after the mediæval building was destroyed by fire. The design of this radical new Irish parliamentary building was entrusted to a talented young architect, Edward Lovett Pearce, who was himself a Member of Parliament. The foundation stone for the new building was laid on 3 February 1729. Pearce's design for the new Irish Houses of Parliament was revolutionary. The building was effectively semi-circular in shape. The building itself underwent extensions by the architect James Gandon, as Pearce had died young. In 1803 the fledgling Bank of Ireland bought the building from the British government for £40, 000 for use as its headquarters. The Irish House of Lords chamber was formerly the bank boardroom; it is today used for recitals and book launches. The Irish
