The most representative Palaces, in the Victorian period are considered to be: St. James Palace, Buckhingham Palace and Crystal Palace.
St. James Palace is accepted to be one of the most oldest palaces in Great Britain. It has been used during centuries as an official residence as well as for ceremonial purposes by the royalty. Although it was built between 1531-1536 under the reign of Henry VIII, it was restored by the architect Inigo Jones in 1620´s so, the palace nowadays presents many characteristics of Baroque architecture. In the palace complex we find the palace itself and two chapels attached to it: The Royal Chapel and the Queen´s chapel. Both of them are open to the public only for select services but the palace itself is not accessible to the audience.
Buckhingham Palace was built in 1705 for the duke of Buckingham. Nowadays, it is the official residence of England´s Queen and this palace presents many utilities such as to receive the most important hosts on state and also it is used to celebrate important official events as well as ceremonies for the royalty. This huge palace contains 19 State rooms in which we can find great paintings and the most finest French and English furniture. Besides, this palace presents ballrooms for special occasions and wonderful gardens. The gardens are open to the public in August and September while the Queen performs her annual visit to Balmoral.
Everyday in summer the audience can see a ceremony called Changing the Guard which takes place in the forecourt of Buckhingham Palace at 11:30 p.m. the ceremony lasts about 45 minutes and it is free to watch. Basically, The ceremony consists on the New Guard leave from Wellington Barracks to the Palace with a Guard Band, and the Old Guard hangs over in which during the sentries are changed and then returns to Barracks.
Crystal Palace was the only one palace built for the most important British events performed in 19th century: The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations. Tis exhibition was arranged by two important characters of this period: Henry Coe and Prince Albert (Queen Victoria´s husband) and it was performed inside The Crystal Palace designed by the architect Joseph Paxton only for this event. This building was located in Hyde Park, London and it was made by glass and iron basically.
An important factor to point out is that the Great Exhibition helped people to believe in the royal family as a model of family for the entire country. Besides, this event was important to welcome people to industrialization that was taking place in Britain at that moment.
Cearly, The Great Exhibition was still regarded as one of the most important gatherings of all time.
BBC Home. 2004. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2004/07/27/history_feature.shtml>.
Mellamy, David. Wealth Management at st. James Palace. 2014. <http://www1.sjp.co.uk/>.
Tourist Information UK. 2014. <http://www.tourist-information-uk.com/buckingham-palace.htm>.
Although there are several important Palaces in Great Britain, you were able to choose the most remarkable ones and emphasize the most important points about each one in few words. Well done!
ResponderEliminarThank you for your comment!! searching the most important palaces in this period was not easy for me because there are other many castles influenced by Victorian period and each of them are important for many reasons either architectural or historical ones.
EliminarI think you made a very well job by deepening into the topic of palaces, giving a lot of information and very interesting insights about it. I know it would not be workable to talk about all the palaces so your choices were right!
ResponderEliminarThank you for your comment!! I tried to give a more accurate details and facts about these two castles, but it was not easy to simplify them. My main purpose was to give as much possible information for both of them so as to catch the attention of the lectors.
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