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Ðåôåðàò: Museums

Ðåôåðàò: Museums

Introduction

Art plays an important role in the life of a man and sometimes it is next to

impossible to live without it. It is natural that the first thing that comes

to my mind at the mention of the word ‘art’ is museums.

A museum is a stock of the world’s masterpieces, it is the place, where you

can enrich knowledge, you can look at the achievements of mankind, you can

satisfy your aesthetic taste. Museums give the possibility to be always in

touch with the past and every time discover something new for yourself.

Besides, museums play an important role in the life of any nation. A museum

is just the right place to find out lots of interesting things about history,

traditions and habits of different peoples. One may find in museums papers,

photos, books, scripts, works of art, personal things of famous people etc.

All this helps us to better understand historical events, scientific

discoveries, character and deeds of well-known personalities.

I think museums somehow effect the formation of personality, his outlook.

Every educated person is sure to understand the great significance of museums

in our life, especially nowadays, when after the humdrum of everyday life you

may go to your favourite museum, relax there with your body and soul and

acquire inner harmony and balance.

I am a regular museum-goer. In fact I visited no less than 20 museums. Among

them: the Louver, the National Gallery, the Shakespeare House in Stratford-on

Avon, the Oxford story exhibition, Museum of Reading, Madam Tussaud’s

Exhibition ,the Tretyakov Gallery and others. We can hardly find a town in

our country without its «Fine Arts» Museum. I’ve been in Voronezh,

Kislovodsk, Essentuky and some other regional museums.

Now I want to write about the Tretyakov Gallery, Windsor Castle, Westminster

Abbey, Buckinngham Palace and Hermitage, about their history and their

collections.

The Hermitage

The State Hermitage in St. Petersburg ranks among the world’s most

outstanding art museums. It is the largest museum in Russia: nowadays its

vast and varied collections take up four buildings; its rooms if stretched in

one line would measure many miles in total length, while they cover an area

of 94240 square meters. Over 300 rooms are open to the public and contain a

rich selection from the museum’s collections numbering about 2500000 items.

The earliest exhibits Date from 500000-300000B.C., the latest are modern

works.

The collections possessed by the museum are distributed among its seven

departments and form over forty permanent exhibitions. A common feature,

characterising these exhibitions is the arrangement of items (all of them

originals) according to countries and schools in a strictly chronological

order, with a view to illustrating almost every stage of human culture and

every great art epoch from the prehistoric times to the 20th century.

Fabulous treasures are gathered in the Museum. It contains a rare collection

of specimens of Soythian culture and art; objects of great aesthetic and

historical value found in the burial mounds of the Altai; a most complete

representation of exhibits characterising Russian culture and art. The

Oriental collections of the Museum, ranking among the richest in the world,

give an idea of the culture and art of the people of the Near and the Far

East; India, China, Byzantium and Iran, are best represented; remarkable

materials illustrative of the culture and art of the peoples inhabiting the

Caucasus and Central Asia, also from part of the collections of the

Department. The Museum numbers among its treasures monuments of ancient

Greece and Rome and those from the Greek settlements on the North coast of

the Black Sea.

World famous is the collection of West-European paintings, covering a span of

about seven hundred years, from the 13th to the 20th century, and comprising

works by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, El Greco, Velazquez, Murillo;

outstanding paintings by Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Rubens; a remarkable group of

French eighteenth century canvases, and Impressionist and Post Impressionist

paintings. The collection illustrates the art of Italy, Spain, Holland,

Belgium, Germany, France, Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and some other

countries. The West European Department of the Museum also includes a fine

collection of European sculpture, containing works by Michelangelo, Canova,

Falkonet, Houdon, Rodin and many other eminent masters; a marvellous collection

of prints and drawings, numbering about 600 000 items; arms and armour; one of

the world most outstanding collections of applied art, rich in tapestries,

furniture, lace, ivories, porcelain metalwork, bronzes, silver, jewellery and

enamels. An important part among the museum possessions is taken by the

numismatic collection, which numbers over 1 000 000 items and is regarded as

one of the largest in the world. A permanent exhibition of coins, orders and

medals is open on the 2nd floor, rooms 398-400. There are auxiliary

displays of coins forming part of exhibitions in other departments as well. A

temporary exhibition of West-European medals is on view in the Raphael Loggias

(1st floor, room 227).

The seven departments of the museum, i.e. the Department of Russian Culture,

Primitive culture, Culture and Art of the peoples of the Soviet East, Culture

and Art of the Foreign Countries of the East, Culture and Art of the Antique

World, West-European Art, Numismatics, together with the Education

Department, the Conservation Department and the Library determine the

administrative and academic structure of the museum.

Within the past few decades the Hermitage has become one of the country’s

most important centres of art study with a research staff of about 200

historians carrying out a vast program of research on art problems, and

responsible for the preservation of the museum treasures, their conservation

and restoration, and also for the scientific popularisation of art. The

results of this varied work are published in the form of books, articles,

periodicals, pamphlets, etc.

Since 1949 a post-graduate school has been functioning at the Hermitage,

specialists in art working here at their theses.

An important aspect of the Museum’s research activities is the work of the

annual archaeological expeditions organised by the Museum either

independently or in co-operation with other Soviet scientific institutions.

The most notable among them are: the Kazmir-Blur expedition making excavations

of the city of Taishebaini dating from the 7th century B.C and

situated on the Kazmir-Blur hill near Erevan; the Chersonese and Nymphaeum

expeditions working on the sites of the ancient Greek towns in the Crimea,

the Tadjik, Altai, Pskov and some other expeditions.The material discovered by

them is of exceptional value, for not only does it throw fresh light on

the problems of the history of the art and culture, but it also serves to

enrich the Hermitage collections.

Most helpful in the Museum’s research work is the Hermitage Library which

contains about 400 000 books, pamphlets, periodicals, and is one of the

largest among the art libraries in Russia. It was started in the 18th

century and contains works on all branches of fine and applied arts. In

addition to the Central Library each Department has at its disposal a

subsidiary library of special literature. Of these, the library of the

Hermitage exchanges books with a number of Russian and foreign museums.

It is open to every student of art.

All these are but a few aspects of the varied work carried out by the Museum

and constantly achieving still greater scope and a few forms, meeting the

growing cultural demands of the Russian people.

THE MAKING OF THE COLLECTION

Although visited now by thousands of people the Museum traditionally retains

the old name of the Hermitage attached to it in the 1760’s and meaning «a

hermit’s dwelling», or «a solitary place». The name is due to the fact that

the Hermitage was founded as a palace museum accessible only to the nearest

of the near to the court.

A number of objects of which but a small part was later incorporated in the

museum’s collections were acquired in different countries by Peter I. These

were antique statues Marine landscapes, land a collection of Siberian

ancient gold buckles. However, the foundation of the Hermitage is usually

dated to the year 1764 when a collection of 225 pictures was bought by

Catherine II from the Prussian merchant Gotzkowsky.

A feature characteristic of the 18th century accusations was the

purchase of large groups of paintings, sometimes of complete galleries,

bought en blok at the sales in Western Europe.Count Bruhl’s collection

acquired in Dresden in 1769, the Gallery of Crozat, bought in Paris in 1772

and the gallery of Lord Walpole acquired in London in 1779 were the most

prominent among the acquisitions made in the 18th century.

Together with numerous purchases of individual pictures, they supplied the

museum with most outstanding canvases of the European school ,including

those by Rembraandt,Rubens,Van Dyck and other eminent artists, and made

the Hermitage rank among the finest art galleries of Europe. Works ,

commissioned by the Russian court from European painters also enriched the

Picture gallery.By 1785 the Museum numbered 2658 paintings. Prints and

drawings, cameos, coins and medals were likewise represented at the Hermitage.

The acquisition of complete collections and of individual works of art was

continued in the 19th century but on a more modest scale than

during the previous period. Among the most notable acquisitions of the 19

th century were: Mathew Malmaison Gallery of the Empress Josephine bought

in 1814; the collection of the English banker Coesvelt consisting mainly of

Spanish paintings, purchased in Amsterdam the same year; as well as the

paintings from the Barrbarigo Palace inVenice which gave the Museum its best

Titians.

As to the individual works of art, the acquisition in 1865 of Leonardo da

Vince’s «Madonna Litta»fromthe Duce of Litta collection and the purchase of

Raphael’s «Virgin and Child» from the Conestebite family in 1870, were

important landmarks in the growth of the treasures of the Hermitage.

In 1885 the Hermitage received an important collection of objects of applied

art of the 12th – 26th centuries, gathered by

Basilevsky; , together with the Armoury transferred from Tsarskoe Selo,

notably enriched the Museum with a new type of material

The first decade of the 20th century witnessed the acquisition of

a magnificent collection including 730 canvases by the Dutch and Flemish

artists, which had been in the possession of the eminent Russian scientist

Semenov-Tienshansky. Another most important acquisition was Leonardo da

Vinci’s «Madonna and Child» purchased in 1914 from the family of the

architect L.Benois.

The Great October Revolution created highly favourable conditions for the

further growth of the Museum collections and their systematic study.

Since October 1917, due to the care taken by Soviet Government for the

preservation of art treasures, the Museum was enriched with a great number

of first-class works of art. Among these were the best pictures chosen by

the Hermitage the nationalised private collections such as those

formerly owned by the Yussupovs, the Shuvalovs, the Stroganovs; paintings

transferred from the imperial palaces; art treasures, acquired by exchange

from other museums within the country.

The policy of planned distribution of art treasures among the museums carried

out by the state, enabled the Hermitage not only to fill up many gaps and

deficiencies by adding to its picture gallery Italian paintings of the

13th-15th centuries, works of the Netherlandish school,

and of the French school of the 19th and 20th centuries

but to form a museum free from private taste , and made it possible to arrange

the collections systematically. The accumulation of materials which had not

been represented in the museum in the pre-Revolutionary period ,led to the

formation of new departments: the department of the history of culture and art

of the primitive society, of the culture and art of the peoples of the East,

and that of the history of Russian culture.

He immense growth of the collections made it necessary to extend the

exhibition

space This is why the building of the Winter Palace was placed at the

disposal of the Hermitage, the name «The State Hermitage» being now applied

to the whole great museum thus formed.

BRITISH SCHOOL

The Hermitage is one of the very few on the Continent which contains a

special section for English pictures.

Portraiture, landscape painting and satire art in which England excelled ,

are represented by a number of first-class paintings and prints executed

by the most outstanding artists of British School, mainly of the 18th

century. A number of 17th-19th century works are on show

too. There are also some notable specimens of applied art, among which is a

fine group of objects in silver and Wedgwood potteryware . English paintings

of the 17th century are extremely rare outside England.The

Hermitage possesses several works of this period. These are: the Portrait of

Oliver Cromwell by Robert Walker, two portraits by Peter Lely, of which the

«Portrait of a Woman» reveals the artist’s sense of colour to great

advantage; also the «Portrait of Grinling Gibbons» by Godfrey Kneller, to name

only the most outstanding canvases.

The collection has no paintings by William Hogarth, but some of his prints

selected from a large and representative collection possessed by the

Museum are usually on show.

Joshua Reynolds is represented by four canvases all painted in the 1780-s.

An interesting example of his late work is the «Infant Hercules strangling

the Serpents», which is an allegory of the youthful Russia vanquishing her

enemies. The picture was commissioned from Reynolds by Catherine II, and was

brought to Russia

in 1789. In 1891 two other canvases were sent by Reynolds to Russia. One was

the «Continence of Scepic Africanus» , which , as well as the «Infant

Hercules», reveals Reynolds’s conception of the grand style in art. The

other was «Venus and Cupid»; presumably representing Lady Hamilton .This

is one of the versions of the piñture entitled «The Snake in the Grass»,

owned by the National Gallery, London

Reynolds’s «Girl at a window» is a copy with slight modifications, from

Rembrandt’s canvas bearing the same title, and owned by the Dulwich Gallery.

It may be regarded as an example of Reynolds’s study of the «old masters’»

works.

A fair idea of the British artists’ achievements in the field of portrait

painting can be gained from the canvases by George Romney Thomas

Gainsborough, John Opie, Henry Rdeburn, John Hoppner and John Russell, all

marked by a vividness of expression and brilliance of execution typical of

the British School of portrait painting in the days when it had achieved a

national tradition. Highly important is Gainsborough’s superb «Portrait of

the Duchess of Beaufort» painted in a loose and most effective manner

characteristic of his art in the late 1770’s. For charm of expression and

brilliance of execution, it ranks among the masterpieces of the Museum.The

«Tron Forge» by Joseph Wright of Derby is an interesting example of a new

subject in English18th century art: the theme of labour and industry, which

merged in the days of the Industrial Revolution.

The few paintings of importance belonging to the British school of the 19th

century include a landscape ascribed to John Constable; the «Boats at a shore»

by Richard Parkers Bonington; the «Portrait of an old woman» by David Wilki,

three portraits by Thomas Lawrence and portraits by George Daive, of which the

unfinished «Portrait of the Admiral Shishkov» is the most impressive.

The collection was largely formed at the beginning of the 20th

century, a great part of it deriving from the Khitrovo collection bequeathed to

the Museum in 1916.

THE TRETYAKOV GALLERY

The Tretyakov Gallery , founded by Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov (1832-1989),

a Moscow merchant and art patron, is a national treasury of Russian pre-

revolutionary and Russian art.

The Gallery’s centenary was widely celebrated throughout Russia in May

1956. Tretyakov spent his life collecting the works of Russian painters which

reflected the spirit and ideas of all progressive intellectual of his day.

He began his collection in 1856 with the purchase of «Temptation» (1856) by

N.Shilder and «Finnish Smugglers» (1853) by V.Khudyakov. These paintings

are on permanent exhibition. In order that his collection better reflect the

centuries-old traditions of Russian art he acquired works of various epochs

and also began a collection of antique icons. Tretyakov was one of the few

people of his time who realised the great intrinsic value of ancient Russian

art. He was on friendly terms with many progressive , democratic Russian

painters, frequenting their studious, taking an active interest in their

work, often suggesting themes for new paintings, and helping them

financially. His collection grew rapidly; by 1872 a special building was

erected to house it.

Tretyakov was aware of the national importance of his vast collection of

Russian art and presented it to the city of Moscow in 1892, thus establishing

the first museum in Russia. An excerpt from his will reads: « Desirous of

facilitating the establishment in my beloved city of useful institutions

aimed at promoting the development of art in Russia, and in order to hand

down to succeeding generations the collection I have amassed I hereby

bequeath my entire picture gallery and the works of art contained therein,

as well as my half of the house, to the Moscow City Duma. By special decree

of the Soviet Government, Issued on June 3 1918 and signed by V.I. Lenin, the

Gallery was designated one of the most important educational establishments

of the country. It was also decreed that the name of its founder be retained

in honour of Tretyakov’s great services to Russian culture.

The Gallerie’s collection has grown considerably in the years since the

Revolution. In 1893 it consisted of 1805 works of art, but by 1956 the

number had increased to 35276.The early Russian Art department and the

collections of sculpture and drawings were considerably enlarged, and an

entirely new department- Soviet Art- was created. By a Government decision

of 1956, a new house is to be built for the Gallery within the next few

years.

At present, the more interesting and distinctive works, tracing the

development of Russian art through nearly ten centuries, are exhibit in the

Gallery’s 54 halls.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE

Buckingham palace is the official London residence of Her Majesty The Queen

and as such is one of the best known and most potent symbols of the British

monarchy. Yet it has been a royal residence for only just over two hundred

and thirty years and a palace for much less; and its name, known the world

over, is owed not to a monarch but to an English Duke.

Buckingham House was built for John, first Duke of Buckingham, between 1702

and 1705. It was sold to the Crown in 1762. Surprisingly, since it was a

large house in a commanding position, it was never intended to be the

principal residence of the monarch.

Although King George III modernised and enlarged the house considerably in

the 1760s and 17770s, the transformations that give the building its present

palatial character were carried out for King George IY by Nash in the 1820s,

by Edward Blore for King William IY and Queen Victoria in the 1830s and

40s, and by James Pennethoooorne in the 1850s.

In the reign of King Edward YII, much of the present white and gold decoration

was substituted for the richly coloured 19th century schemes of

Nash and Blore; and in the 1920s, Queen Mary used the firm of White Allom to

redecorate a number of rooms.

The rooms open to visitors are used principally for official entertainment

.These include Receptions and State Banquets, and it is on such occasions,

when the rooms are filled with flowers and thronged with formally dressed

guests and liveried servants, that the Palace is seen at its most splendid

and imposing. But of course the Palace is also far more than just the

London home of the Royal Family and a place of lavish entertainment. It has

become the administrative centre of the monarchy where, among a multitude of

engagements, Her Majesty receives foreign Heads of State, Commonwealth

leaders and representatives of the Diplomatic Corps and conducts

Investitures, and where the majority of the Royal Houshold, consisting of six

main Departments and a staff of about three hundred people, have their

offices.

THE QUEEN’S HOUSE

The Duke of Buckingham’s house, which George III purchased in 1762, was

designed by the architect William Winde, possibly with the advice of John

Talman, in 1702.

The new house, a handsome brick and stone mansion crowned with statuary

and joined by colonnades to outlying wings, looked eastward down the Mall

and westwards over the splendid canal and formal gardens, laid out for the

Duke by Henry Wise partly on the site of the royal Mulberry Garden. This

garden had been part of an ill-fated attempt by James I to introduce a silk

industry to rival that of France by planting thousands of mulberry trees.

The building and its setting were well suited to the dignity of the Duke, a

former Lord Chamberlain and suitor of Princess Anne, and of his wife, an

illegitimate daughter of James II, whose eccentricity and delusions of

grandeur earned her the nickname of «Princess Buckingham».

The principal rooms, then as now, were on the first floor. They were reached

by a magnificent staircase with ironwork by Jean Tijou and walls painted

by Louis Laguerre with the story of Dido and Aeneas.

Under the architectural direction of Sir William Chambers and over the

following twelve years The Queen’s House was gradually modernised and

enlarged to provide accommodation for the King and Queen and their

children, as well as their growing collection of books, pictures and

works of art.

QUEEN VICTORIA’S PALACE

At the age of eighteen, Queen Victoria became the first Sovereign to live at

Buckingham Palace.

John Nash had rightly predicted that the Palace would prove too small, but

this was a fault capable of remedy. The absence of a chapel was made good

after the Queen’s marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, when

the south conservatory was converted in 1843.

In 1847 the architect Edward Blore added the new East Front. Along the first

floor Blore placed the Principal Corridor, a gallery 240 feet long

overlooking the Quadrangle and divided into three sections by folding doors

of mirror glass. It links the Royal Corridor on the south, and opens into

suites of semi-state rooms facing the Mall and St James’s Park. Blore

introduced into the East Front some of the finest fittings from George IY’s

Royal Pavilion at Brighton, which Queen Victoria ceased to use after the

purchase of Osborn House in 1845.

The new building rendered the Marble Arch both functionally and

ornamentally dispensable, and it was removed in 1850 to its present site

at the north-east corner of Hyde Park.

THE STATE ROOMS

Most of the principal State Rooms are located on to first floor of

Bughingham Palace. They are approached from Nash’s Grand Hall which in its

unusual low proportions echoes the original hall of Bughingham House. The

coupled columns which surround the Hall are each composed of a single block

of veined Carrara marble enriched with Corinthian capitals of gilt bronze

made by Samuel Parker.

The Grand Staircase, built by Nash on site of the original stairs, divides

theatrically into three flights at the first landing, two flights curving

upwards to the Guard room. The gilded balustrade was made by Samuel Parker in

1828-30. The walls are set with full-length portraits which include George

III and Queen Charlotte by Beechey,William IY by Lawrence and Queen Adelaide

by Archer Shee. The sculptured wall panels were designed by Thomas Stothard

and the etched glass dome was made by Wainwright and Brothers.

GALLERY

The picture Gallery, the largest room in the Palace, was formed by Nash in

the area of Queen Charlotte’s old apartments. Nash’s ceiling, modified by

Blore in the 1830s, was altered by Sir Aston Webb in 1914.

As there are many loans to exhibitions, the arrangement is subject to

periodic change. However the Gallery normally contains works by Van Dyck,

Rubens, Cuyp and Rembrandt among others. The chimneypieces are carved with

heads of artists and the marble group at the end, by Chantrey, represents Mrs

Jordan, mistress of William.

From the Suilk Tapestry Room the route leads via the East Gallery, Cross and

West Galleries to the State Dining Room. This room is used on formal

occasions and is hung with portraits of GeorgeIY, his parents, grandparents

and great-grandparents.

THE PALACE AT WORK

BUCKINNGHAM Palace is certainly one of the most famous buildings in the

world, known to millions as Queen’s home. Yet it is very much a working

building and centre of the large office complex that is required for the

administration of the modern monarchy.

Although foreign ambassadors are officially accredited to the Court of St

James’s

and some ceremonies, such as the Proclamation of a new Sovereign, still take

place at St James’s Palace, all official business now effectively takes

place at Buckingham Palace.

In some ways the Palace resembles a small town. For the 300 people who work

there, there is a Post office and a police station, staff canteens and

dinning rooms. There is a special three-man security team equipped with a

fluoroscope, which examines every piece of mail that arrives at the Palace.

There is also a soldier who is responsible for making sure the Royal Standard

is flying whenever The Queen is in residence, and to make sure it is taken

down when she leaves. It is his job to watch for the moment when the Royal

limousine turns into the Palace gates - at the very second The Queen enters

her Palace, the Royal Standard is hoisted.

Buckingham Palace is not only the name of the Royal Family but also the

workplace of an army of secretaries, clerks and typists, telephonists,

carpenters and plumbers etc.

The business of monarchy never stops and the light is often shining from the

window of the Queen’s study late at night as she works on the famous «boxes»,

the red and blue leather cases in which are delivered the State papers,

official letters and reports which follow her whenever she is in the world.

There can hardly be a single one of 600 or so rooms in the Palace that is not

in more or less constant use.

The senior member of the Royal Household is the Lord Chamberlain. In

addition to the role of overseeing all the departments of the Household, he

has a wide variety of responsibilities, including all ceremonial duties

relating to the Sovereign, apart from the wedding, coronation and funeral of

the monarch. .These remain the responsibility of the Earl Marshal, the Duke

of Norfolk. The Lord Chamberlain’s Office has the greatest variety of

responsibilities. It looks after all incoming visits by overseas Heads of

State and the administration of the Chapels Royal. It also supervises the

appointment of Pages of Honour , the Sergeants of Arms, the Marshal of the

Diplomatic Corps, the Master of the Queen’s Music, and the Keeper of the

Queen’s Swans.

The director of the Royal Collection is responsible for one of the finest

collections of works of art in the world. The Royal Collection is a vast

assemblage of works of art of all kinds, comprising some 10,000 pictures,

enamels and miniatures, 20,000 drawings, 10,000 watercolours and 500,000

prints, and many thousands of pieces of furniture, sculpture, glass,

porcelain, arms and armour, textiles, silver, gold and jewellery.

It has largely been formed by succeeding sovereigns, consorts and other

members of the Royal Family in the three hundred years since the

Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660.

The Collection is presently housed in twelve principal locations open to the

public, which include Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court

Palace, Windsor Castle, The Palace of Holyroodhouse and Osborne House.

In addition a substantial number of objects are on indefinite loan to the

British Museum, National Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum and Museum of

London.

Additional access to the Royal Collection is provided by means of

exhibitions, notably at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, opened in

1962.

WINDSOR CASTLE

Windsor Castle is the oldest royal residence to have remained in continuous

use by the monarchs of Britain and is in many ways an architectural epitome

of the history of the nation. Its skyline of battlements, turrets and the

great Round Tower is instantly recognised throughout the world. The Castle

covers an area of nearly thirteen acres and contains, as well as a royal

palace, a magnificent collegiate church and the homes or workplaces of a

large number of people ,including the Constable and Governor of the Castle,

the Military Knights of Windsor and their families, etc.

The Castle was founded by William the Conqueror c. 1080 and was conceived as

one of a chain of fortifications built as a defensive ring round London.

Norman castles were built to a standard plan with an artificial earthen

mound supporting a tower or keep, the entrance to which was protected by an

outer fenced courtyard or baily. Windsor is the most notable example of a

particularly distinctive version of this basic plan developed for use on

a ridge site. It comprises a central mote with a large bialy to either side

of it rather than just on one side as was more than usual.

As first built, the Castle was entirely defensive, constructed of earth and

timber, but easy access from London and the proximity of the Castle to the

old royal hunting forest to the south soon recommended it as a royal

residence. Henry I is known to have had domestic quarterswithin the castle

as early as 1110 and Henry converted the Castle into a palace. He built two

separate sets of royal apartments within the fortified enclosure: a public

or official state residence in the Lower Ward, with a hall where he could

entertain his court and the barons on great occasions, and a smaller private

residence on the North side of the Upper Ward for the exclusive occupation of

himself and his family.

Henry II was a great builder at all his residences. He began to replace the

old timber outer walls of the Upper Ward with a hard heath stone found ten

miles south of Windsor. The basic curtain wall round the Upper Ward, much

modified by later alterations and improvements, dates from Henry II’s time,

as does the old part of the stone keep, known as the Round Tower , on top of

William’s the Conqueror’s mote. The reconstruction of the curtain wall round

the Lower Ward was completed over the next sixty years. The well-preserved

section visible from the High street with its three half-round towers was

built by Henry III in the 1220s.He took a keen personal interest in all his

projects and carried out extensive works at Windsor. In his time it became

one of the three principal royal palaces alongside those at Westminster

and Winchester. He rebuilt Henry II’s apartments in the Lower Ward and

added there a large new chapel, all forming a coherently planned layout

round a courtyard with a cloister; parts survive embedded in later

structures in the Lower Ward. He also further improved the royal private

apartments in the Upper Ward.

The outstanding medieval expansion of Windsor, however, took place in the

reign of Edward III. His huge building project at the Castle was probably

the most ambitious single architectural scheme in the whole history of

the English royal residences, and cost the astonishing total of 50,772

pounds. Rebuilt with the proceeds of the King’s military triumphs, the

Castle was converted by Edward III into a fortified palace redolent of

chivalry The stone base was and military glory, as the centre of his court

and the seat of his newly founded Order of the Garter .Even today, the

massive Gothic architecture of Windsor reflects Edward III’s medieval ideal

of Christian, chivalric monarchy as clearly as Louis XIY’s Versailles

represents baroque absolutism.

The Lower Ward was reconstructed, the old royal lodgings being transformed

into the College of St George, and a new cloister, which still survives,

built with traceeried windows. In addition there were to be twenty-six

Poor Knights. Henry III’s chapel was made over for their use, rebuilt and

renamed St George’s Chapel.

The reconstruction of the Upper Ward was begun in 1357 with new royal

lodgings built of stone under the direction of William of Wykeham, Bishop of

Winchester. An inner gatehouse with cylindrical towers was built at the

entrance to the Upper Ward.Stone-vaulted undercrofts supported extensive

royal apartments on the first floor with separate sets of rooms for the

King and the Queen ( as was the tradition of the English royal

palaces),arranged round two inner courtyards later known as Brick Court and

Horn Court .Along the south side, facing the quadrangle, were the Great Hall

and Royal Chapel end to end. Edward IY built the present larger St George’s

Chapel to the west of Henry III’s.Henry YII remodelled the old chapel ( now

the Albert Memorial Chapel) at its east end; he also added a new range to

the west of the State Apartments which Elizabeth I extended by a long gallery

.

During the English Civil War in the mid-seventeenth century, the Castle was

seized by Parliamentary forces who ill-treated the buildings and used part

of them as a prison for Royalists.

At the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 Charles II was determined to

reinstate the old glories of the Crown after the interval of the

Commonwealth. Windsor was his favourite non-metropolitan palace and it was

the only one which could be effectively garrisoned.

The architect Hugh May was appointed in 1673 to supervise the work and over

the next eleven years the Upper Ward and State Apartments were

reconstructed. The result was both ingenious and magnificent, making the

Upper Ward the most unusual palace in baroque Europe.

The interior was a rich contrast to the austerity of the exterior and formed

the first and grandest sequence of baroque State Apartments in England.The

ceilings were painted by Antonio Verrio, an Italian artist brought from

Paris by the Duke of Montagu, Charles II’s ambassador to Louis XIY. The

walls were wainscoted in oak and festooned with brilliant virtuoso carvings

by Grinling Gibbons and Henry Phillips of fruit, flowers, fish and birds

The climax of Charles II’s reconstruction was St George’s Hall and the

King’s Chapel with murals by Verrio. In the former there were historical

scenes of Edward III and the Black Prince, as well as Charles II in Grater

robes enthroned in glory, and in the latter Christ’s miracles and the Last

Supper. All were destroyed by Wyatville inn 1829. The source of inspiration

for the new rooms at Windsor was the France of Louis XIY, but the use of

wood rather than coloured marbles gave Windsor a different character and

established a fashion which was copied in many English country houses.

William III and the early Hanoverian kings spent more time at Hampton Court

than at Windsor. Windsor, however, came back into its own in the reign of

George III, who disliked Hampton Court, which had unhappy memories for him

From 1777 George III reconstructed the Queen’s Lodge to the south of the

Castle. He also restored St George’s Chapel in the 1780s.At the same time a

new state entrance and Gothic staircase were constructed for the State

Apartments.

As well as his work in the Castle, George III modernised Frogmore in the

Home Park as a retreat for his wife, Queen Charlotte, and reclaimed some of

the Great Park for agriculture. The King designed a special Windsor

uniform of blue cloth with red and gold facings, a version of which is still

worn on occasions today. The King loved the Castle and its romantic

associations. In 1805 he revived the formal ceremonies of installation of

Knights of the Garter at Windsor.

When George IY inherited the throne, he shared his father’s romantic

architectural enthusiasm for Windsor and determined to continue the Gothic

transformation and the creation of convenient, comfortable and splendid new

royal apartments.

In many ways Windsor Castle enjoyed its apogee in the reign of Queen

Victoria.. She spent the largest portion of every year at Windsor, and in

her reign it enjoyed the position of principal palace of the British monarchy

and the focus of the British Empire as well as nearly the whole of royal

Europe. The Castle was visited by heads of state from all over the world and

was the scene of a series of splendid state visits. On these occasions the

state rooms were used for their original purpose by royal guests. The visits

of King Louis Philippe in 1844 and the Emperor Napoleon III inn 1855 were

especially successful. They were invested at Windsor with the Order of the

Garter in formal ceremonies, as on other occasions were King Victor Emanuel

I of Italy and the Emperor William I of Germany. For the most of the

twentieth century Windsor Castle survived as it was in the nineteenth

century. The Queen and her family spend most of their private weekends at

the Castle.

A distinctive feature of hospitality at Windsor Castle are the invitations

to «dine and sleep» which go back to Queen Victoria’s time and encompass

people prominent in many walks of life including The Queen’s ministers.

On such occasions, The Queen shows her guests a specially chosen exhibition

of treasures from the Royal Collection.

THE GALLERY,THE CHINA MUSEUM

The central vaulted undercroft, originally created by James Wyatt and

extended in the same style by Jeffry Wyatville to serve as the principal

entrance hall to the State Apartments, was cut off when the Grand Staircase

was reoriented in the reign of Queen Victoria. It has recently been

redesigned and now houses a changing exhibition of works of art from the

Royal Collection, which include Old Master drawings from the world-famous

Print Room in the Royal Library.

The carved Ionic capitals of the columns survive from Hugh May’s alterations

for Charles II. In cases round the walls are displayed magnificent china

services from leading English and European porcelain manufacturers: Serves,

Meiden, Copenhagen, Naples, Rockingham and Worchester. These are still used

for royal banquets and other important occasions.

There are some famous paintings in Windsor Castle: Van Dyke’s «Triple

Portrait of Charles I» painted to send to Bernie in Italy to enable him to

sculpture a bust of the King; Colonel John St.Leger, a friend of the Prince

Regent, by Gainsborough;Vermeer’s portrait of a lady at the virginals; The

five eldest children of Charles I by Van Dyke; John Singleton Copley, the

American artist, painted the three youngest daughters of George III and Queen

Charlotte:Princesses Mary, Sophia and Amelia, none of whom left legitimate

descendants and The Campo SS. Giovanniie Paolo Canaletto etc.

ST GEORGE’S CHAPEL

St George’s Chapel is the spiritual home of the Prodder of the Garter,

Britain’s senior Order of Chivalry, founded by King Edward III in 1348. St

George is the patron saint of the Order.

The architecture of the Chapel ranks among the finest examples of

Perpendicular Gothic, the late medieval style of English architecture. Unlike

most of the other great churches ,St George’s Chapel has its principal or

«show» front on the south , facing the Henry YIII gate and running almost

the length of the Lower Ward.

As Sovereign of the Order of the Garter, The Queen attends a service in the

Chapel in June each year, together with the Knights and Ladies of the Order.

Today thirteen Military Knights of Windsor represent the Knights of the

Garter in ST George’s Chapel at regular services. Ten sovereigns are buried

in the Chapel, as are buried in the Chapel, as are other members of the

royal family, many represented by magnificent tombs.

The Albert Memorial Chapel

The richly decorated interior is a Victorian masterpiece, created by Sir

George Gilbert Scott for Queen Victoria in 1863-73 to commemorate her husband

Albert.

The vaulted ceiling is decorated in gold mosaic by Antonio Salviati. The

figures in the false west window represent sovereigns, clerics and others

associated with St George’s Chapel. The inlaid marble panels around the

lower walls depict scenes from Scripture.

This was the site of one of the Castle’s earliest chapels, built in 1240 by

King Henry III and adapted by King Edward III in the 1350s as the first

chapel of the College of St George and the Order of the Garter. When the

existing St George’s Chapel was built in 11475-15528, this small chapel

fell into disuse. Subsequent plans to turn it into a royal mausoleum came

to nothing.

In 1863 Queen Victoria ordered its complete restoration and redecoration as

a temporary resting place for Prince Albert.

The Chapel is now dominated by Alfred Gilbert’s tomb of the Duke of

Clarence and Avandale who died in 1892.

The Great Park

The Great Park of Windsor, covering about 4,800 acres, has evolved out of

the Saxon and medieval hunting forest. It is connected to the Castle by an

avenue of nearly 3 miles, known as the Long Walk, planted by King Charles

II in 1685 and replanted in 1945. The Valley Gardens are open all year

round

WESTMINSTER ABBEY

Westminster Abbey is one of the most famous, historic and widely visited

churches not only in Britain but in the whole Christian world. There are

other reasons for its fame apart from its beauty and its vital role as a

centre of the Christian faith in one of the world’s most important capital

cities. These include the facts that since 1066 every sovereign apart

from Edward Y and Edward YIII has been crowned here and that for many

centuries it was also the burial place of kings, queens and princes.

The royal connections began even earlier than the present Abbey, for it was

Edward the Confessor, sometimes called the last of the English kings(1042-66)

and canonised in 1163, who established an earlier church on this site. His

great Norman Abbey was built close to his palace on Thorney Island. It was

completed in 1065 and stood surrounded by the many ancillary buildings

needed by the community of Benedictine monks who passed their lives of

prayer here. Edward’s death near the time of his Abbey’s consecration made

it natural for his burial place to be by the High Altar.

Only 200 years later, the Norman east end of the Abbey was demolished and

rebuilt on the orders of Henry III, who had a great devotion to Edward the

Confessor and wanted to honour him. The central focus of the new Abbey was a

magnificent shrine to house St Edward’s body ; the remains of this shrine,

dismantled at the Reformation but later reerected in rather a clumsy and

piecemeal way, can still be seen behind the High Altar today.

The new Abbey remained incomplete until 1376, when the rebuilding of the Nave

began; it was not finished until 150 years later, but the master masons

carried on a similar thirteenth-century Gothic, French-influenced design, as

that of Henry III’s initial work, over that period, giving the whole a

beautiful harmony of style.

In the early sixteenth century the Lady Chapel was rebuilt as the

magnificent Henry YII Chapel; with its superb fan-vaulting it is one of

Westminster’s great treasures.

In the mid-eighteenth century the last malor additions - the two western

towers designed by Hawksmoor - were made to the main fabric of the Abbey.

THE NAVE was begun by Abbot Litlington who financed the work with money

left by Cardinal Simon Langham, his predecessor, for the use of the

monastery. The master mason in charge of the work was almost certainly the

great Henry Yevele. His design depended on the extra strength given to the

structure by massive flying buttresses. These enabled the roof to be

raised to a height of 102 feet. The stonework of the vaulting has been

cleaned and the bosses gilded in recent years.

At the west end of the Nave is a magnificent window filled with stained

glass of 1735, probably designed by Sir James Thornhill (1676-1734).(He also

painted the interior of the dome in St Paul’s Cathedral} The design shows

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with fourteen prophets, and underneath are the

arms of King Sebert, Elizabeth I, George II, Dean Wilcocks and the

Collegiate Church of St Peter in Westminster.

Also at the west end of the Nave is the grave of the Unknown Warrior. The

idea for such a memorial is said to have come from a British chaplain

who noticed, in a back garden at Armeentieeres, a grave with the simple

inscription: «An unknown British soldier». In 1920 the body of another

unknown soldier was brought back from the battlefields to be reburied in the

Abbey on 11 November. George Y and Queen Mary and many other members of the

royal family attended the service, 100 holders of the Victoria Cross lining

the Nave as a Guard of Honour. On a nearby pillar hangs the Congressional

Medal, the highest award which can be conferred by the United St ates.

From the Nave roof hang chandeliers, both giving light and in daylight

reflecting it from their hundreds of pedant crystals. They were a gift to

mark the 900th anniversary of the Abbey and are of Waterford

glass.

At the east end of the Nave is the screen separating it from the Choir.

Designed by the then Surveyor, Edward Blore, in 1834, it is the fourth

screen to be placed here; the wrought-iron gates, however, remain from a

previous screen. Within recent years the screen has been painted and glided.

THE CHOIR was originally the part of the Abbey in which the monks worshipped,

but there is now no trace of the pre- Reformation fittings, for in the

late eighteenth century Kneene, the then Surveyor, removed the thirteenth-

century stalls and designed a smaller Choir. This was in turn destroyed in

the mid-nineteenth century by Edward Blore, who created the present Choir in

Victoria Gothic style and removed the partitions which until then had

blocked off the transepts

It is here that the choir of about twenty-two boys and twelve Lay Vicars

sings the daily services. The boys are educated at the Choir School attached

to the Abbey ;mention of such a school is made in the fifteenth century

and it may be even older in origin. For some centuries it was linked with

Westminster School, but became independent in the mid-nineteenth century.

The Organ was originally built by Shrider in 1730. Successive rebuildings

in 1849,1884,1909,,and 1937 and extensive work in 1983 have resulted in

the present instrument.

THE SANCTUARY is the heart of the Abbey, where the High Altar stands The

altar and the reredos behind it, with a mosaic of the Last Supper, were

designed by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1867. Standing on the altar are two

candlesticks, bought with money bequeathed by a serving-maid, Sarah Hughes,

in the seventeenth century. In front of the altar, but protected by

carpeting, is another of the Abbey’s treasures - a now-very-worn pavement

dating from the thirteenth century. The method of its decoration is known as

Cosmati work, after the Italian family who developed the technique of

inlaying intricate designs made up of small pieces of coloured marble into a

plain marble ground.

THE NORTH TRANSEPT, to the left of the Sanctuary, has a beautiful rose window

designed by Sir James Thornhill, showing eleven Apostles. The Transept once

led to Solomon’s Porch and now leads to the nineteenth-century North Front.

THE HENRY YII CHAPEL, beyond the apse, was begun in 1503 as a burial place

for Henry YI, on the orders of Henry YII, but it was Henry.YII himself who

was finally buried here, in an elaborate tomb. The master mason, who designed

the chapel was probably Robert Vertue his brother William constructed

the vault at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, in 1505 and this experience may

have helped in the creation of the magnificent vaulting erected here a few

years later.

The chapel has an apse and side aisles which are fan-vaulted, and the

central section is roofed with extraordinarily intricate and finely-

detailed circular vaulting ,embellished with more Tudor badges and with

carved pendants, which is literally breath-taking in the perfection of its

beauty and artistry.

Beneath the windows, once filled with glass painted by Bernard Flower of

which only fragments now remain, are ninety-four of the original 107 statues

of saints, placed in richly embellished niches. Beneath these, in turn, hang

the banners of the living Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath,

whose chapel this is. When the Order was founded in 1725, extra stalls and

seats were added to those originally provided. To the stalls are attached

plates recording the names and arms of past Knights of the Order, while under

the seats can be seen finely carved misericords.

The altar, a copy of the sixteenth-century altar incorporates two of the

original pillars and under its canopy hangs a fifteenth-century Madonna and

Child by Vivarini.

In the centre of the apse, behind the altar, stand the tomb of Henry YII and

Elizabeth of York, protected by a bronze screen. The tomb was the work of

Torrigiani and the effigies of the king and queen are finely executed in gilt

bronze.

In later years many more royal burials took place in the chapel. Mary I, her

half-sister Elizabeth I and half-brother Edward YI all lie here The Latin

inscription on thetomb - on which only Elizabeth Ist effigy rests - reads:

«Consorts both in throne and grave, here rest we two sisters, Elizabeth and

Mary, in the hope of one Resurrection».

In the south asle lies Mary Queen of Scots, mother of James Yi and I, who

brought her body from Peterborough and gave her a tomb even more magnificent

than that which he had erected for his cousin Elizabeth.I.

In the same aisle lies Henry YII’s mother, Margaret Beaufort, Countess of

Richmond. Her effigy, a bronze by Torrigiani, shows her in old age. She was

known for her charitable works and for her intellect - she founded Christ’s

and St John’s Colleges at Cambridge - and these activities are recorded in

the inscription composed by Erasmus. Also in this aisle is the tomb of

Margaret, Countess of Lennox.

THE CHAPEL OF ST EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, containing his shrine, lies east of

the Sanctuary at the heart of the Abbey. It is closed off from the west by

a stone screen, probably of fifteenth-century date, carved with scenes from

the life of Edward the Confessor; it is approached from the east via a bridge

from the Henry YII Chapel.

The shrine seen today within the chapel is only a ghost of its former self.

It originally had three parts: a stone base decorated with Cosmati work, a

gold feretory containing the saint’s coffin, a canopy above which could be

raised to reveal the feretory or lowered to protect it. Votive offerings of

gold and jewels were given to enrich the feretory over the centuries. To this

shrine came many pilgrims, and the sick were frequently left beside it

overnight in the hope of a cure. All this ceased at the Reformation The

shrine was dismantled and stored by the monks; the gold feretory was taken

away from them, but they were allowed to rebury the saint elsewhere in the

Abbey.

It was during the reign of Mary I that a partial restoration of the shrine

took place. The stone base was re-assembled, the coffin was placed, in the

absence of a feretory, in the top part of the stone base and the canopy

positioned on top. The Chapel has a Cosmati floor, similar to that before

the High Altar, and a blank space in the design shows where the shrine

once stood; it also indicates that the shrine was originally raised

up on a platform, making the canopy visible beyond the western screen.

The canopy of the shrine has recently been restored, and hopefully one

day the rest of the shrine will also be restored.

And within the chapel can be seen the Coronation Chair and the tombs of five

kings and four queens. At the eastern end is the tomb and Chantey Chapel of

Henry Y, embellished with carvings including scenes of Henry Y’s

coronation. The effigy of the king once had a silver head and silver

regalia, and was covered in silver regalia, and was covered in silver gilt,

but this precious metal was stolen in 1546.

Eleanor of Castle, first wife of Edward I, lies beside the Chapel. Her body

was carried to Westminster from Lincoln, a memorial cross being erected at

each place where the funeral procession rested.

Beside her lies Henry III, responsible for the rebuilding of the Abbey, in a

tomb of Purbeck marble. Next to his tomb is that of Edward I. Richard II

and Anne of Bohemia, Edward III and Philippa of Hainnault, and Catherine de

Valois, Henry Y’s Queen, also lie in this chapel.

THE SOUTH TRANSEPT is lit by a large rose window, with glass dating from

1902. Beneath it, in the angles above the right and left arches, are two of

the finest carvings in the Abbey, depicting sensing angels. In addition to

the many monuments there are two fine late thirteen-century wall-paintings,

uncovered in 1936, to be seen by the door leading into St Faith’s Chapel.

They depict Christ showing his wounds to Doubting Thomas, and St

Christopher. Beside the south wall rises the dormer staircase, once used by

the monks going from their dormitory to the Choir for their night offices.

POET’S CORNER

One of the most well-known parts of Westminster Abbey, Poet’s Corner can be

found in the south Transept. It was not originally designated as the burial

place of writers, playwrights and poets; the first poet to be buried here,

Geoffrey Chaucer, was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey because he had been

Clerk of Works to the Palace of Westminster, not because he had written the

Canterbury Tales. However, the inscription over his grave, placed there by

William Caxton - the famous printer whose press was just beyond the transept

wall - mentioned that he was a poet.

Over 150 years later, during the flowering of English literature in the

sixteenth century, a more magnificent tomb was erected to Chaucer by

Nicholas Brigham and in 1599 Edmund Spencer was laid to rest nearby. These

two tombs began a tradition which developed over succeeding centuries.

Burial or commemoration in the abbey did not always occur at or soon after

the time of death - many of those whose monuments now stand here had to wait

a number of years for recognition; Byron, for example, whose lifestyle caused

a scandal although his poetry was much admired, died in 1824 but was

finally given a memorial only in 1969. Even Shakespeare, buried at Stratford-

upon-Avon in 1616, had to wait until 1740 before a monument, designed by

William Kent, appeared in Poet’s Corner. Other poets and writers, well-known

in their own day, have now vanished into obscurity, with only their monuments

to show that they were once famous.

Conversely, many whose writings are still appreciated today have never been

memorialised in Poet’s Corner, although the reason may not always be clear.

Therefore a resting place or memorial in Poet’s Corner should perhaps not be

seen as a final statement of a writer or poet’s literary worth, but more as

a reflection of their public standing at the time of death - or as an

indication of the fickleness of Fate.

Some of the most famous to lie here, in addition to those detailed on the

next two pages include BenJonson, John Dryden, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert

Browning and John Masefield, among the poets, and William Camden, Dr Samuel

Johnson, Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, Richard Brinsley

Sheridan, Rudyard Kipling and Thomas Hardy among the writers.

Charles Dickens’s grave attracts particular interest. As a writer who drew

attention to the hardships born by the socially deprived and who advocated

the abolition of the slave trade, he won enduring fame and gratitude and

today, more than 110 years later, a wreath is still laid on his tomb on the

anniversary of his death each year.

Those who have memorials here, although they are buried elsewhere, include

among the poets John Milton, William Wordworth, Thomas Gray, John Keats,

Percy Bysshe Shelley, Robert Burns, William Blake, T.S. Eliot and among the

writers Samuel Butler, Jane Austen, Oliver Goldsmith, Sir Walter Scott, John

Ruskin, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte and Henry James.

By no means all those buried in the South Transept are poets or writers,

however. Several of Westminster’s former Deans, Archdeacons, Prebendaries

and Canons lie here, as do John Keble, the historian Lord Macaulay, actors

David Garrick, Sir Henry Irving and Mrs Hannah Pritchard, and, among many

others, Thomas Parr, who was said to be 152 years of age when he died in

1635, having seen ten sovereigns on the throne during his long life.

CORONATIONS IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY

Coronation have taken place at Westminster since at least 1066, when William

the Conqueror arrived in London after his victory at the battle of Hastings.

Whether or not Harold, his predecessor as monarch, had been crowned in Edward

the Confessor’s Abbey is uncertain - coronations do not seem to have had a

fixed location before 1066, though several monarchs were crowned at

Kingston-upon-Thames, where the King’s Stone still exists - but William was

determined to reinforce his victory, which gave him the right to rule by

conquest, with the sacred hallowing of his sovereignty which the

coronation ceremony would give him. He was crowned in the old Abbey - then

recently completed and housing Edward the Confessor’s body- on Christmas

Day 1066.

The service to-day has four parts: first comes the Introduction ,consisting

of: the entry of the Sovereign into the Abbey; the formal recognition of the

right of the Sovereign to rule - when the Archbishop presents the Sovereign

to the congregation and asks them if they agree to the service proceeding,

and they respond with an assent; the oath, when the Sovereign promises to

respect and govern in accordance with the lows of his or her subjects and to

uphold the Protestant reformed Church of England and Scotland; and the

presentation of the Bible to the Sovereign, to be relied on as the source of

all wisdom and low. Secondly, the Sovereign is anointed with holy oil, seated

on the Coronation Chair. Thirdly, the Sovereign is invested with the royal

robes and insignia, then crowned with St Edward’s crown. The final

ceremony consists of the enthronement of the Sovereign on a throne placed on

a raised platform, bringing him or her into full view of the assembled

company for the first time, and there he or she receives the homage of the

Lords Spiritual, the Lords Temporal and the congregation, representing the

people of the realm.

The service has changed little - English replaced Latin as the main language

used during the ceremony following Elizabeth Ist coronation, and from 1689

onwards the coronation ceremony has been set within a service of Holy

Communion although indeed this was a return to ancient custom rather than

the creation of a new precedent).

Coronations have not always followed an identical pattern. Edward YI, for

example, was crowned no less than three times, with three different crowns

placed in turn upon his head; while at Charles I’s coronation there was a

misunderstanding and, instead of the congregational assent following the

Recognition Question, there was dead silence, the congregation having

finally to be told to respond - an ill omen for the future, as it turned out.

Charles II’s coronation, following on the greyness of the puritan

Commonwealth, was a scene of brilliant colour and great splendour. As the old

regalia had been destroyed, replacements were made for the ceremony, and the

clergy were robed in rich red copes - the same copes are still used in the

Abbey

George IY saw his coronation as an opportunity for a great theatrical

spectacle and spent vast sums of money on it. He wore an auburn wig with

ringlets, with a huge plumed hat on top, and designed his own robes for the

procession into the Abbey. After the coronation, because Queen Caroline had

been forcibly excluded from the ceremony, the crowds in the streets were

extremely hostile to him and he had to return to Carlton House by an

alternative route.

In complete contrast, William IY took a lot of persuading before he would

agree to have a coronation at all, and the least possible amount of money

was spent no it - giving it the name the «penny coronation». Despite his

dislike of extravagant show and ceremony, he still brought a slightly

theatrical touch to the scene by living up to his nickname of the «sailor

king» and appearing , when disrobed for the Anointing, in the full-dress

uniform of an Admiral of the Fleet.

The last three coronations have demonstrated continuing respect for the

religious significance of the ceremony and recognition of the importance of

such a public declaration by Sovereign of his or her personal dedication to

the service of the people.

At the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 , for the first time the

service was televised and millions of her subjects could see and hear the

ceremony taking place. It is possible that few watching realised just how far

back into history the roots of that historic ceremony starched, and how

little fundamental change had occurred over the centuries.

LIST OF WORDS

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masterpiece øåäåâð

mankind ÷åëîâå÷åñòâî

satisfy óäîâëåòâîðÿòü

aesthetic ýñòåòè÷åñêèé

to be in touch with áûòü â êîíòàêòå ñ

script ðóêîïèñü

humdrum ñóåòà

acquire îáðåòàòü

LIST OF WORDS

rank among áûòü â ðÿäó ñ

tàke up ïîãëîùàòü

stretch ïðîñòèðàòüñÿ

arrangement ðàñïîëîæåíèå

fabulous ñêàçî÷íûé

span ìèã, ïðîëåò

applied art ïðèêëàäíîå èñêóññòâî

enamel ýìàëü

lace êðóæåâî

ivory ñëîíîâàÿ êîñòü

excavation ðàñêîïêè

scope ðàçìàõ

LIST OF WORDS

accessible äîñòóïíûé

merchant êóïåö

purchase ïîêóïêà

favourable áëàãîïðèÿòíûé

due to the care áëàãîäàðÿ çàáîòå

fill up çàïîëíÿòü

gap ïðîáåë

deficiencies íåäîñòàòîê

accumulation íàêîïëåíèå

at smb’s disposal â ÷üåì-ëèáî ðàñïîðÿæåíèè

LIST OF WORDS

portraiture ïîðòðåòíàÿ æèâîïèñü

landscape ïåéçàæ

potteryware ôàðôîð

possess îáëàäàòü

vanquish ïðåîäîëåâàòü

presumably âåðîÿòíî

gain ïîëó÷àòü

vividness î÷åâèäíîñòü

merge ãðàíè÷èòü

ascribe ïðèïèñûâàòü

WORD OF LIST

reflect

îòðàæàòü

spirit äóõ

permanent ïîñòîÿííûé

rapidly áûñòðî

intrinsic ïðèñóùèé

amass ñîáèðàòü

hereby ïðè ñåì

distinctive î÷åâèäíûé

LIST OF WORDS

intend íàìåðåâàòüñÿ

palatial äâîðöîâûé

carry out îñóùåñòâëÿòü

substitute çàìåíÿòü

scheme ñõåìà

throng òðîí

lavish ùåäðûé

wing êðûëî

lay out ðàñïîëàãàòü

ill-fated íåñ÷àñòëèâûé

attempt ïîïûòêà

mulberry tree øåëêîâèöà

dignity äîñòîèíñòâî

suitor ïîêëîííèê

eccentrisity ýêñöåíòðè÷íîñòü

remedy ëåêàðñòâî

LIST OF WORDS

chain of fortification öåïü óêðåïëåíèé

access äîñòóï

proximity áëèçîñòü

timber ñòðîåâîé ëåñ

alteration ïåðåìåíà,

èçìåíåíèå

improvement óëó÷øåíèå

reddent of chivalry íîñèòåëü ðûöàðñòâà

non-metropolitan íåñòîëè÷íûé

austerity ñòðîãîñòü

sequence ïîñëåäîâàòåëüíîñòü

wainscot îáøèâêà

inspiration âäîõíîâåíèå

marble ìðàìîð

association àññîöèàöèÿ

inherit íàñëåäîâàòü

apogee àïîãåé

LIST OF WORDS

reorient ïåðåîðèåíòèðîâàòü

legitimate çàêîííûé

descendant ïîòîìîê

spiritual äóõîâíûé

inlaid èíêðóñòèðîâàííûé

depict îïèñûâàòü, îòðàæàòü

disuse

íåóïîòðåáëåíèå subsequent

ïîñëåäîâàòåëüíûé

LIST OF WORDS

monk ìîíàõ

consecration ïîñâÿùåíèå

burial ïîãðåáåíèå

demolish ðàçðóøàòü

shrine õðàì

reerect ïåðåñòðîèòü

clumsy íåóêëþæèé

fan-vaulting âååðíûé ñâîä

predecessor ïðåäøåñòâåííèê

buttress îïîðà

underneath ïîä

grave ìîãèëà

chaplain êàïåëëàí

confer ïðèñóæäàòü

bequeath çàâåùàòü

intricate ñëîæíûé

embelish óêðàøàòü

effigy ïîðòðåò

regalia ðåãàëèÿ

depict îòðàæàòü

dormitory ñïàëüíÿ

LIST OF WORDS

commemoration ïàìÿòü

occur at èìåòü ìåñòî â

vanished èñ÷åçíóâøèé

obsqurity ïðåïÿòñòâèå

deprive ëèøàòü

abolition óíè÷òîæåíèå

reinforce óêðåïëÿòü

conquest çàâîåâàíèå

sovereignty ìîíàðõèÿ

accordance ñîîòâåòñòâèå

insignia çíàêè ðàçëè÷èÿ

congregation îáùèíà

realm âëàñòü

EXERCISES

I. Choose the correct definition to the following:

1. take up a) careful study or

investigation, esp.in order to

discover nnew facts or information

2. due to sth or sb b)to become or make sth

completely full

3. fill up c)to fill or occupy an

amount of space or time

4. research on d)caused by sth,sb; because of

sth,sb.

5. carry out e)to do sth,as required or

specified; to fulfil sth.

Exercise II. Make all the changes necessary to produce five sentences:

I. /The collections/ are distributed/ and/ possessed/ by/ among/

departments/ over forty/ exhibition/ the museum/ its/ permanent/ seven/.

2. /An important/ the museum/ part/ is taken by/ collection/ among/ the

numismatic/ possessions/.

3./The aquisitionn of complete/of individual works/ in the 19th/ the

previous/ century/ period/ was continued/ but/ collections/ of art/ and/ on a

more modest scale/ during/ than/.

4. /The Hermitage/ section/ of the very/ on the Continent/ contains/ for /

pictures/ is/ which/ a special/ few/ English/ one/.

5. /Joshua Reynolds/ all/ in/ by/ is/ 1780s/ represented/ the/ canvases/

painted/ four/.

Exercise III.Fill in the blanks with the following pronouns:

in of from on by

1. The collection has no paintings __ William Hogarth, but some __ his

prints selected ___ a large and representative collection possessed __ the

Museum are usually ___ show.

2. The State Hermitage __ St Petersburg ranks among the world’s most

outstanding art museums.

3. The Museum numbers among its treasures monuments __ ancient Greece and

Rome and those__ the Greek settlements __ the North coast __ the Black Sea.

4. Most helpful __ the Museum’s research work is the Hermitage Library.

5. It is open to every student __ art.

6. A number __ 17th -18th century works are __ show too.

EXERCISES

Exercise I. Choose the correct sentence:

1. a/ The Tretiakov Gallery was founded by a Russian painter - Tretiakov.

b/The Tretiakov Gallery was founded by a Moscow merchant and art patron -

Tretiakov.

2. a/The Gallery’s centenary was widely celebrated throughout Russia in June

1956.

b/The Gallery’s centenary was widely celebrated throughout Russia in May 1856.

3. a/The Gallery’s collection has grown considerably in the years since the

Revolution.

b/The Gallery’s collection has not grown since the Revolution.

4. a/The early Russian Art department and the collections of sculpture and

drawings were constant.

b/The early Rassian Art department and the collections of scylpture and

drawings were enlarged.

5. a/Tretiakov spent his life collecting the works of Russian painters.

b/Tretiakov spent 10 years collecting the works of Russiann painters.

Exercise II. Read the informatuion about the Tretiakov Gallery and answer the

following questions:

I. Is the Tretiakov Gallery one of the best-known picture galleries of the

world? Why?

2.What do you know about the history of the Tretiakov Gallery?

3.Who was it founded by?

4.When and how did Tretiakov begin his collection?

5.Did he collect antique icons?

6.He was on friendly terms with many progressive, democratic Russian

painters, wasn’t he?

7.Why did his collection grow rapidly?

8.What pictures do you know from the Tretiakov Gallery?

9.What do you know about the Tretiakov Gallery’s collection of «Peredvizniki»?

10.What were the first pictures of Tretiakov’s collection?

EXERCISES

Exercise I. Choose the correct word to complete the sentence:

1. Buckingham Palace is the official /residence,home/ of the Her Majesty The

Queen.

2. The Queen’s House was gradually /ruined, modernised/.

3. John Nash had rightly /predicted,promised/ that the Palace would prove too

small, but this was a fault capable of remedy.

4. In 1847 the architect Edward Blore /added, took away/ the East front.

5. It /isn’t, is/ the centre of a large office complex.

6. The business of monarchy /sometimes, never/ stops.

7. Buckingham Palace became the /administrative, juriditial/ centre of the

monarchy.

8. Buckingham Palace /is, was/ built for Jihn, first Duke of Buckingham,

between 1702 and 1705.

9. The director of the Royal Collection is /responsible, look after/ for one

of the finest collections of works of art in the world.

10. The Royal collection is a vast assemblage of works of art of all /sizes,

kinds/

Exercise II. Give Russian equivalents for the following words and

expressions and use them in your own sentences:

1.potent symbols 2.carry out 3.suitor 4.predict 5.coronation

6.ill-fated 7.dignity 8.eccentricity 9.accredit 10.require

EXERCISES

Exercise I. True or false?

1. Windsor Castle is the youngest royal residence.

2. The Castle covers an area of nearly 30 acres.

3. The Castle was founded by William the Conqueror in 1080.

4. Norman castles were built to a special plan.

5. Queen Victoria spent the smallest part of a year at Windsor.

6. St George’s Chapel is the spiritual home of of the Prodder of the

Garter,Britain’s senior Order of Chivalry.

7. Windsor is only the place of beauty without any functions.

8. St George is the patron saint of the Order.

9. The Valley Gardens are open only in summer.

10. The vaulted ceiling of the Albert Memorial Chapel is decorated in gold

mosaic by Antonio Salviati.

Exercise II. Fill in the blanks with the correct tense forms of the verbs

in brackets:

In many ways Windsor Castle ____(enjoy) its apogee in the reign of Queen

Victoria. She ____ (spend) the largest portion of every year at Windsor, and

in her reign it ____(enjoy) the position of principal palace of the British

monarchy and the focus of the British Empire as well as nearly the whole of

the royal Europe. The Castle____(visit) by heads of state from all over the

world and ___(be) the scene of a series of splendid state ____ (use) for

their original purpose by royal guests.

Exercise III.

Retell the text about St George’s Chapel using the following:

spiritual home; founded by; medieval style; to bury; represented by.

EXERCISES

Exercise I. Give Russian equivalents to the following words and expressions

from

the text about Westminster Abbey and use them in sentences of your own:

1.reerect 2. clumsy 3.grave 4. intricate 5.the domer staircase 6.

Commemoration 7.

abolition 8. conquest 9. congregation 10. an auburn wig

Exercise II. Fill in the blanks with the following prepositions:

of on from for by

1.Westminster Abbey is one __ the most famous, historic and widely visited

churches not only ___ Britain but ___ the whole Christian world.

2.___ 1920 the body ___ another unknown soldier was brought back ___ the

battlefields to be reburied ___ the Abbey ___ 11 November.

3.The Henry YII Chapel, beyond the apse, was begun ___ 1503 as a bural place

___ Henry YII, ___ the orders ___ Henry YII, but it was Henry YII himself

who was finally buried here, ___ an elaborate tomb.

4.At the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II ___1953 ,___ the first time the

service was televised and millions ___ her subjects could see and hear the

ceremony taking place.

5.The last three coronations have demonstrated continuing respect ___ the

religious significance ___ ceremony and recognition ___ the importance ___

such a public declaration ___ sovereign ___ his or her personal dedication to

the service ___ the people.

Exercise III. Answer the following questions:

1.Why is Westminster Abbey so popular not only in Britain but in the whole

world?

2.When was the Lady Chapel rebuilt as the magnificent Henry YII Chapel?

3.The Nave was begun by Abbot Litlington, wasn’t it?

4.What was originally the part of the Abbey where the monks worshiped?

5.Where does the High Altar stand?

6.Who was the first poet buried in the Abbey?

7.What do you know about processes of coronation today?

8.Have coronations always followed an identical pattern?

9.Who was crowened no less than three times?

10.What was special in the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II?

WORLD’S PAINTERS

Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519, an Italian painter

Manet 1832-1883,a French painter

Michelangelo 1475-1564,an Italian

sculptor,painter,poet

Millet 1814-1875,a French

painter

Monet 1840-1926,a French painter

Murillo 1617-1682,a Spanish

painter

Phidias 5th cent.BC,a

Greek sculptor

Pissaro 1830-1903, a French

painter

Potter 1625-1654,a Dutch painter

Raphael 1483-1520,an Italian

painter

Rembrandt 1606-1669,a Dutch painter

Reynolds 1841-1919,an English painter

Roerich 1874-1947,a Russian painter

Rubens 1577-1640,a Flemish painter

Sargent 1856-1925,an American

painter

Scott,Gilbert 1811-1878,an English

architect

Show, Norman 1831-1912,an English architect

Titan 1477-1576,an Italian

painter

Turner 1775-1881,an English

landscape painter

Van Der Helst 1613-1676,aDutch portrait

painter

Van Gogh 1853-1890,a Dutch painter

Vasari 1511-1571,an Italian

painter and art historian

Velasques 1599-1660,a Spanish painter

Whistler 1834-1903,an American

painter

Zurbaran 1598-1662,a Spanish painter

Ëèöåé ¹6

ÊÀÔÅÄÐÀ ÈÍÎÑÒÐÀÍÍÛÕ ßÇÛÊÎÂ

ÐÅÔÅÐÀÒ

ÍÀ ÒÅÌÓ:

“WORLD’S MUSEUMS”

Âûïîëíèëà:

Ó÷åíèöà 11-À êëàññà

Êðèâîðîòüêî È.Í.

Ïðîâåðèëà:

Êîéëèñ Í.Ã.

Â Î Ð Î Í Å Æ

1999

ðåôåðàòû Ðåêîìåíäóåì ðåôåðàòûðåôåðàòû

     
Ðåôåðàòû @2011