European Parliament Buildings Pt. 2

The building houses the lower house of the Polish Parliament, which consists of 460 seats. The building itself was completed in 1928 and was greatly damaged during the Second World War. It was restored in the post war years. The top gallery of the interior is open to the public even during sessions of the Sejm. Poland was actually one of the few countries of medieval Europe where parliament played an important role in state affairs.

The building was built in a Neo-Renaissance style by the same architect responsible for the Serbian Parliament building as well. It was built between 1884-1885 by a 22 year old builder from Germany. The building is considered an important cultural and historical monument in Bulgaria. Some administrative offices of the National Assembly have been moved to other buildings recently due to a lack of space in the main structure.

Officially called the Assembly of the Republic, the Portugese parliament is located inside the historical building of Palacio de Sao Bento, which was an old Benedictine monastery. It was built in 1598. It has been used by the parliament since 1834. Fire caused major damage to the building in 1895 and a competition was held for a new design for its refurbishment. The winner was Ventura Terra, whose design was heavily influenced by Neo-classical design, which is very apparent in the building today.

The building has housed the Norwegian parliament since 1866 and was designed by a Swedish architect was incorporated various styles, including those of France and Italy, into his design. It was built in 1860-1861 after the parliament refused another design by another architect which was deemed to too closely resemble a church. This building seems to resemble another English country house, although this time of a richer family than the parliament building of Iceland which I discussed in Part 1 of this series. The institution of a Norwegian parliament dates back to only 1814.

The National Assembly of Azerbaijan has 125 members.The building was only finished recently and resemble an office building. To be honest it has proved very difficult to find information about this structure, so I'll let everyone make up their own version of events.