European Parliament, Strasbourg

The European Parliament in Strasbourg is the official seat of the 720-member European Parliament for its monthly plenary sessions and the only directly elected supranational parliamentary chamber in the world. The main building — the Louise Weiss complex, opened in 1999 and designed by Architecture Studio Paris — is a landmark of postmodern architecture: an enormous horseshoe-shaped structure in glass and steel, with a tower rising 60 metres above the Ill river banks in the Wacken quarter. The building's design, with its deliberate appearance of an unfinished structure, alludes to the ongoing project of European integration. Guided tours of the interior are free but must be pre-booked via europarl.europa.eu; tours cover the main hemicycle chamber, the visitor lobby, and exhibitions on EU history and institutions. On days when plenary sessions are in progress — approximately four times per month, typically Monday to Thursday — members of the public can observe debates from the public gallery, offering the most vivid sense of Parliament in operation. The building is in the Wacken quarter, 3 km from Strasbourg city centre, accessible by tram line E in approximately 15 minutes. The adjacent Council of Europe and European Court of Human Rights buildings form a European institutions cluster, and a combined exterior walk of all three makes for an interesting architectural and political-historical excursion.