Changes

[[Image:Londonview2.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The Westminster skyline from Waterloo Bridge]]

[[Image:Londonview2.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The Westminster skyline from Waterloo Bridge]]

'''Westminster''' is a district of [[London]] containing:

The '''City of Westminster''' is a district of central [[London]] in which are located the [[Parliament]] of the [[United Kingdom]], the main government offices, and the chief royal palace, as well as the main retail and entertainment centres of the capital. It is one of 33 divisions of [[Greater London]].

*[[Westminster Abbey]]

*[[Westminster Palace]] (the [[Houses of Parliament]])

*The main offices of Parliament (at [[Portcullis House]])

*[[Whitehall]] (the British administrative system)

*[[Trafalgar Square]].

The borough of Westminster also has city status and is called the [[City of Westminster]], located west of the [[City of London]].

Westminster is named after [[Westminster Abbey]], founded by King [[Edward the Confessor]] on a piece of dry land alongside the [[River Thames]] called Thorney Island. The abbey church is the scene of many of the major national ceremonial acts, including the [[coronation]] of a new monarch. The [[Palace of Westminster]] is close to the Abbey. Still officially a royal palace, the Palace of Westminster is now home to the two Houses of [[Parliament]], the [[House of Commons]] and the [[House of Lords]], which form the British legislature. Most of the major ministries are nearby, many of them lining the street called [[Whitehall]], which has become a shorthand term for the British civil service. The Royal Courts of Justice are also located in Westminster.

[[category:United Kingdom]]

The City of Westminster also contains a number of major cultural sites. The National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain and the Marshall Collection are among many of the art galleries within its boundaries, and the [[Royal Academy]] also hosts presitigious exhibitions. Shaftesbury Avenue is known as the centre of London's 'Theatreland', and Oxford, Regent and Bond Streets are major retail centres. The [[Soho]] district is alive with cosmopolitan restaurants and bars, while Mayfair and Belgravia are exclusive and hugely expensive reidential districts. The [[United States]] [[Embassy]] is located at Grosvenor Square in Mayfair; many other embassies and [[High Commission]]s are located in Mayfair and, especially, Belgravia.

[[category:geography]]

 

 

 

 

 

[[category:United Kingdom  Cities and Towns]]