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
mention óïîìèíàíèå
stock õðàíèëèùå
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 |
