Parliament of Themiclesia

The Parliament of Themiclesia is the bicameral national legislature of Themiclesia, consisting of the House of Lords and House of Commons.

Seat

Unlike many legislatures, the Themiclesian parliament does not operate in a self-contained building or compound. It occupies several sections of the Sk'ên'-ljang Palace (顯陽宮), mainly the Inner (中書上省) and Outer Protonotaries Court (中書下省), Kaw-men Hall (高門殿), Inner (侍中上省) and Outer Court of Attendants (侍中下省), Court of Visitors (客省), Royal Lobbies (殿中臺), and several minor compounds. These sections are non-contiguous and each contain several buildings surrounded by walls.  These premises were inherited from the bodies were reformed into the modern Parliament.

The Inner and Outer Protonotaries courts originally contained the royal secretariat that was elective and later became the House of Commons. These courts are situated on the west side of the palace. The Inner Court served as office and meeting space, while the Outer Court contained residences for members of the secretariat. The Inner Court contains of the main chamber slightly to the compound's north, and said chamber is flanked by two corridors that connected to the peristyle on the inner side of the walls. North of the main chamber is the Grand Gallery, which had several functions over the ages. To the east and west of the chamber are separate committee rooms, and a modern office building, two storeys tall, extends from the west corridor south. The Outer Court consists of rows of one-storey buildings.

The Kaw-men Hall was originally a royal hall for a visiting empress, but the Council of Peers, predecessor of the House of Lords, moved into this vacant building in 1805. Originally, the Council was no more than a few members in size and met in the Court of Attendants, but the Great Settlement brought all the peers to the capital city, whose meetings necessitated grander premises. The hall possesses its own peristyle compound, and quarters for the empress' staff were converted into space for the peers' secretaries and servants. The Inner Court of Attendants thus became a group of committee chambers after several years of disuse. The Outer Court of Attendants has become an archive mostly used by the House of Lords, whose members tended to live in their own houses. Unlike the Court of Protonotaries, the Kaw-men Hall was not extensively added to for legislative purposes.

The Court of Visitors is mostly used today as an area for MPs offices and public events. The parliamentary ballroom is found here. The Royal Lobbies are within the Front Hall and served as fora for members of both houses to meet with the monarch and government ministers in a collegiate context. The space between the Kaw-men Hall and Front Hall is considered non-public; several modern buildings are located in this area and house further parliamentary offices. The same is true with the space between the Inner Court of Protonotaries and the Front Hall, though visitors with permission may still cross this space.

See also

• Themiclesia