Editing Palace of Westminster (section)

=== Second World War damage and restoration ===
[[File:Old House of Commons.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|The old chamber of the House of Commons was in use between 1852 and 1941, when it was destroyed by German bombs in the course of the [[Second World War]].]] During the Second World War the palace was hit by bombs on fourteen separate occasions. A bomb that fell on 26 September 1940 lifted the [[Richard Coeur de Lion (statue)|statue of Richard the Lionheart]] from its pedestal and bent its sword, an image that was used as a symbol of the strength of democracy, "which would bend but not break under attack".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/uk_parliament/3768088819/in/set-72157621747072869/ |title=Richard I statue: Second World War damage |publisher=UK Parliament |access-date=27 December 2009|date=28 July 2009 }}</ref>

The worst raid took place in the night of 10–11 May 1941, when the palace took at least twelve hits and three people (two policemen and Resident Superintendent of the House of Lords, Edward Elliott<ref>[http://www.parliament.uk/documents/War-Memorial-Lists/War-Memorials-Westminster-Hall-WW2.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623011628/http://www.parliament.uk/documents/War-Memorial-Lists/War-Memorials-Westminster-Hall-WW2.pdf|date=23 June 2015}} Names on the Parliamentary War Memorial.</ref>) were killed.<ref name="Fell, p. 27">[[#Fell|Fell and Mackenzie (1994)]], p. 27.</ref> The Commons Chamber and the roof of Westminster Hall were both set alight; as the firefighters could not save both, the hall was prioritised and saved, while the chamber was destroyed.<ref>[[#Field|Field (2002)]], p. 259.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/uk_parliament/2713947202/ |title=Bombed House of Commons 1941 |author=UK Parliament |work=[[Flickr]] |access-date=5 August 2010|date=29 July 2008 }}</ref> The Lords Chamber and Clock Tower were damaged in the same raid.<ref name="Fell, p. 27" /> The Commons Chamber was rebuilt in a simplified style after the war, being completed in 1950.<ref>{{Cite web|title='The House' Returns|url=https://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-house-returns|access-date=8 February 2023|website=British Pathé|language=en-GB}} Newsreel 50/87, issue date 30 October 1950.</ref>