Last couple of days in England

On Friday afternoon after saying goodbye to most of the people, I went to the National Portrait Gallery and then I did some shopping.

I only had a quick look in the gallery because I was meeting my friend Nicole at Dennis Sever's House. I hadn't heard of this before but it's a museum that has been set up like a time capsule, so it's like entering a house as it would have been in the early 18th century. It's like stepping into the lives of a family of silk weavers so everything has been recreated to mimic their way of living.

And there was a cat walking around which was cute!

After we had been through the house, Nicole and I went to Brick Lane for dinner - it is known for its Indian restaurants so we ate at one of those.

This morning I slept in, then had brunch at a nearby cafe and got French toast with maple syrup.

It was raining so I decided to go to the National Gallery and Banqueting House. Banqueting House is run by Historic Royal Palaces (along with many other places I've been to). I listened to the audio guide and sat on a bean bag looking at the ceiling which was painted by Rubens, commissioned by Charles I.

The ceiling was amazing. It embodies the Divine Right of Kings and different virtues. The hall was built by James I but it burnt down a few years later in 1619 so then he commissioned architect Inigo Jones to replace it. It was used for masques and it is also the site where Charles I was executed.

In the corner there were set up a few objects which we were allowed to handle (wearing gloves). I was talking to the woman showing me the objects and telling her about the heritage tour I had done and that I work in archives.

One of the objects was a 17th century coin with Charles I on it.

Then there was a jug which was found underneath the Banqueting Hall in an excavation.

Then the most interesting was a stove tile from the bathroom of Henry VIII from his residence at Whitehall Palace which used to be on this site until it was destroyed by a fire in 1698.

Portrait of Charles 1 in the stairwell (below)

Then I headed to the National Gallery. There were a couple of interesting paintings by Michelangelo which were unfinished.

The section I found the most interesting was the Impressionist section with paintings by Claude Monet, Henri Matisse and Georges Seurat. There were also the famous Van Gogh paintings which a lot of people were gathered around.

Monet's Water Lily Pond

'The Forest at Fontainebleau' - Henri Matisse

'Bathing at Asnieres' - Georges Seurat

After this, I went back to International Hall and got ready to leave England tomorrow morning. 

End of Open Palace Programme

Thursday was the last full day of scheduled activities for the Open Palace Programme. In the morning we travelled by taxi to Fulham Palace, which is the residence of the Bishops. It's not actually a Palace - it's a manor house but because Bishops were seen as 'princes of the church' it became known as a Palace.

The Curator Miranda Poliakoff took us into the Tait Chapel (named after the Bishop Tait).

Then she gave us a tour of the spaces including the Museum and the Great Hall (below) which is often used for weddings. 

It is rather small compared to the other places we've been to. Also we were told that Elizabeth I stayed one night here.

We were given a task to complete which was a bit confusing. The house is being renovated soon to create new exhibition spaces, so we had to choose objects from their collection to go on display in these new spaces. Each exhibition space had a theme so the objects had to fit within the theme. One of the spaces was archaeology, so my group chose archaeological finds from the Museum and came up with an interactive way of displaying these. The object on display at the bottom right is a sword that was found in the River Thames near Fulham in 1873.

We presented our ideas to the group then had to leave soon after that, so I didn't get a chance to look at the gardens. I didn't really enjoy Fulham Palace as much as the other places.

Then it took a while to hail a taxi to take us to Apsley House for the afternoon.

When we got there, the keeper of the Wellington Collection Josephine Oxley welcomed us and showed us around. They have tried to recreated the rooms to look exactly like they would have back then.

We got taken into the Museum room where there was a large Egyptian cabinet given to Empress Josephine as a present when she divorced Napoleon. Another stand out item was a colossal nude statue of Napoleon next to the staircase (which Napoleon apparently didn't like). We weren't allowed to take photos but there are photos of it on the Internet.

Because it was the residence of the first Duke of Wellington, and his descendants (and still is a private residence) there are many portraits of men and not many of women. Except there is a painting by Titian of the mythological princess Danae.

Also in the Banqueting room there is a massive silver Portuguese centrepiece.

We got different tasks to complete and my group's task was to analyse the interpretation of the space. The members in my group were very critical of the House because they only seemed to target a specific audience, there was a lack of information panels and it is not very person friendly because you can't touch anything, sit down anywhere or take photos. Also, it wouldn't be very interesting for children. My group had a lot of suggestions of improvements that would make the place more engaging and interactive (eg. hiring costumed actors for the rooms who would act as tour guides).

After the presentations, I got some photos of the Wellington arch.

To celebrate the end of the Open Palace Programme, I went with a group of girls to the pub.

On Friday morning we walked over to the Wellcome Collection, and filled out feedback forms saying what we liked best about the Programme and suggesting improvements. That was the last scheduled activity but we were free to look around the Museum. It is a medical museum full of medical antiquities so some of it was a bit disgusting. It did have Napoleon's toothbrush though.

It was a bit sad saying goodbye to the group, especially friends that I've made from New Zealand and Germany.

But it's been a very rewarding experience and I have learnt so much, and I'm sure it will be beneficial to my career development.

British Library

Wednesday was spent at the British Library. 

We were welcomed by Andrea Martin, Exhibitions and Interpretations Manager. She is in charge of helping curate exhibitions such as the 'Russian Revolution: Hope, Tragedy, Myths' which is currently on. She discussed the challenges of this and targeting a specific audience. We got time later to visit the exhibition - I wasn't really interested but my ticket was free so I decided to anyway. There were a lot of propaganda posters.

The morning was spent at the Centre for Conservation (below), which is where all the paper conservation happens. It is restricted to staff only but Liz, a Collections Manager, showed us around and we got an insight into the process behind book binding and repairing books. She showed us an 18th century Indian flag which they are currently in the process of restoring. When it came into the collection, it was rolled up and covered in dirt (she showed us photos) so much restoration had to happen to retain its original condition.

We were also shown rare and precious books, including a mini Bible, and Liz showed us the acid-free storage solution she came up with for these books.

We were also given an insight into how they monitor pest control, and the various book supports used to accommodate for different types of binding.

It was interesting because with items in the basement they have a robotic arm and conveyer belt which retrieve the item needed and brings it back up.

After this, we had to rush to a building in Russell Square where Dr Tracy Borman, Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces was giving us a presentation. Due to her very busy schedule, she only had one hour spare to give a talk, answer questions and sign books. I didn't actually realise that she was willing to sign copies of her books, otherwise I would have brought something for her to sign.

Her talk was really interesting. She gave a background of her previous experience and gave tips on finding jobs and also writing aswell. She talked about her recently published book 'The Private Lives of the Tudors' and gave a rundown of Tudor history, mainly focusing on Henry VIII and Elizabeth 1.

Some of us went back to the British Library after this to have a further look. Tracy recommended the cake to us so we were all keen to try some cake in the cafe. 

Then I looked in the 'Treasures of the British Library' section which had so many interesting and extremely rare documents.

Some of these included:

 - Early versions of Bibles (including the first Bible printed by William Tyndale)

- Early biblical manuscripts

- Letters and writings of Jane Austen

- Writings of Charlotte Bronte

- Shakespeare sonnets

- Original music score of Handel's Hallelujah Chorus

- Beatles memorabilia (including a birthday card used to write the lyrics of 'A Hard Day's Night' on)

- Tess of the Turbervilles with Thomas Hardy's corrections

- Magna Carta

- Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (written in his handwriting with pictures).

Hampton Court Palace

On Tuesday morning we headed to Hampton Court Palace. To get to Hampton Court, the group got taxis to Waterloo station then the train. 

When we got to the Palace, we were greeted by Preventive Conservation Manager Kathryn Hallett. First she gave a history of the Palace then an introduction into collections and conservation identifying some of the risks and challenges they have faced. One main challenge, for example, is preserving the large wall tapestries in the Great Hall because they are always on display (and have been for the past 200 years) and subject to light and humidity, and difficult to remove from the walls. The tapestries depict the story of Abraham which resonated with Henry VIII because he too waited so long for a son.

Another main problem they have is the collection of dust which is brought in by visitors. The collections management team use an international framework called 'The Agents of Deterioration' which lists contaminants and risks such as dust, light, pests, incorrect temperature and humidity and how to monitor these.

She got us in groups to discuss and make suggestions on how to preserve the tapestries in the Great Hall.

After she spoke, the registrar Rebecca Wallace talked about the process of acquiring, accessioning and cataloging items and the policy framework they use.

Then the Treatment Conservation Manager, Mika Takami spoke on the challenges they face with conserving the buildings and objects in the Palace, particularly when it is open to visitors 363 days a year so this has to be done after hours.

She gave us an exclusive tour of the textile conservation studio which showed the process of restoring the tapestries and costumes. There were 3 Princess Diana dresses out on the table for restoration, and also some fabric which is believed to be the only surviving part of a dress worn by Elizabeth I. None of Elizabeth I's dresses have survived so this fabric is extremely rare and was found by chance in a church last year by Dr Tracy Borman, the Chief Curator. We got a really interesting insight into this discovery when Tracy Borman gave a presentation to us yesterday. 

It is believed to be the fabric of the bodice worn by Elizabeth 1 in this portrait:

It was very special to see this fabric laid out on the table. 

After the tour, we were given free time to look around so I spent a couple of hours looking around the house.

I liked the use of cloth labels. Instead of having printed text panels, the text had been printed on sheets of cloth which were pinned to curtains behind the paintings (below).

Then I walked through the gardens - the fountain and the maze (UK's oldest surviving hedge maze). 

In the evening I went out for dinner with some people from the group, to an Italian Restaurant and I had a Chocolate Fondant pudding with salted caramel icecream which was very delectable.

Costumes at Kensington Palace

One of the Curators at Kensington Palace, Isabella Coraca, was a mentor on the Open Palace Programme last year so she knew all about the types of places we had been to.

Isabella Coraca is a dress historian and she is in partly in charge of the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection which consists of 12,000 items.

We got taken up to the room where the costume archive is. The room consisted of multiple boxes, each labelled with an identifier number and a photograph showing the contents of the box. 

She had laid out on the table 3 very precious items for us to look at. We were allowed to take photos of these but not publish them online. One was an 18th century men's court suit which was silk with very fine embroidery.

The next item was a costume designed by George IV for his coronation, which was worn by a man in the procession. George IV designed all the costumes for people to wear at his coronation in 1821.

The third item was the most special - it was a box containing multiple pairs of baby shoes that were worn by Queen Victoria and her children. 

After this, the other Curator Claudia Williams showed us around the current exhibition 'Victoria Reveiled' outlining the challenges she faced curating this exhibition. There were costumes worn by Queen Victoria, including one that she wore to her coronation (below) and also some dolls that she had when she was a child.

One of the challenges they face is that to preserve costumes, they are only supposed to display for 1 year at a time then they have to go back into storage. So they have to rotate the dresses and change which ones are on display.

Currently they are preparing for the 200 year anniversary of Victoria's birth, so they are looking for new objects to acquire.

We got taken downstairs and given a task to complete which was a fake auction, and in groups we were given an acquisition budget and 10 items to choose from. Each  group had to decide which items they would purchase with the money, then justify why this would be an important addition to the Royal Collection. My group chose a tartan dress worn by Princess Diana in 1982. The items weren't there, we were only given photos of each item. But we did see this tartan dress at Hampton Court Palace yesterday. Then we had time to look around Kensington Gardens.

In the evening we all went to the pub for drinks to say farewell to the Director of the Programme as she was going to be busy taking care of the 2nd program which started a few days ago. 

 

Tower of London

In the morning we got a taxi to the Tower of London. 

There was a bit of a mixup because the Chief Warden of the Crown Jewels display, who was supposed to be taking the morning session - giving us a tour of the Crown Jewels and a task to complete after that - did not show up without any explanation. Fortunately, the staff managed to work out another activity we could do but the Director of the Program wasn't very happy about it.

Anyway, we got given a private tour of the Crown Jewels (the gates to the Tower of London open at 10 and we got there earlier so we had time to walk around the site with no other tourists there which was nice). In the Crown Jewels display there were a lot of orbs and sceptres which were used during coronations. Some of the crowns worn during coronations, Queen Elizabeth II's for example, are so heavy that they can only be worn for 15 minutes.

The most impressive item was a Grand Punch Bowl, which is all gold and made for King George IV. It weighs 248 kilograms and holds the contents of 144 bottles of wine. It is still used today for special occasions at Buckingham Palace.

The smallest item in the collection is Queen Victoria's Crown which she wore with her widow's veil.

We got some time to explore the site, so I went to the White Tower which had a display of arms and armour (including Henry VIII's armour) and also to the Medieval Palaces display.

Then the staff had managed to organise a tour for us at the last minute to look inside the Byward Tower. The Byward Tower is not open to the public but a Curator Jane Spooner took us in to look at a medieval wall painting that was inside.

The Tower is used by the officials of the Royal Mint. In 1953 a medieval wall painting was uncovered and rediscovered. The Curator told us that it was very rare as not many medieval wall paintings are still in existence. The one we were shown depicted John the Baptist on the left holding the Lamb of God book and pointing to Christ's crucifixion (in the centre, where the fireplace is now). 
On the right is St Michael the Archangel who represents the Last Judgement, holding the scale for the weighing of the souls to determine if someone went to Hell, Purgatory or Paradise. It reminded me of studying Dante's The Divine Comedy a bit.

Then we got in the taxi to be taken to Kensington Palace.

Free weekend in London

On Friday the group arrived in London and we checked into International Hall, our accommodation for the next week. Each of us has our own room.

One of the girls Nicole wanted to go to Tate Modern so I spent the afternoon there with her. 

We did two guided tours, including a tour of the Materials and Collections (artworks made out of readymade objects). 

One of the artworks was called Ink Splash II (by El Anatsui). I thought it was cool because it is made out of flattened metal bottle caps which have been stitched together to create a large blanket (below).

Also one of the artworks was Marcel duChamp's famous 'Fountain' a highly controversial work challenging the notions of what is and what isn't art. 

I found the tour a bit basic. Some of what the tour guide was saying I already knew.

We did a tour of another exhibition, and then looked in a section which had iconic modern paintings (eg. Andy Warhol and Picasso). I liked this painting 'Bowl of Fruit, Violin and Bottle' by Picasso.

Also this one by Fernand Leger 'Still life with a beer mug.' I remember writing about this painting in my art folio at school so it was cool to see it in person.

Another really interesting work was this Tower of radios. The artist stacked radios from different time periods on top of each other (the old fashioned ones at the bottom) and they were all communicating different messages. The artwork was called 'Babel' and it was supposed to be a modern representation of the Tower of Babel.

Then we went up the top of the Tate and checked out the view from the viewing platform. Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped at the oldest street in London called Ironmonger's Lane - it was where Thomas Beckett was born. 

The next day, Saturday, the weather wasn't that great so I decided to go to the Museum of London (just by myself). It was interesting though there was a lot to see because it was a whole history of London, from BC times to the 21st century.

I found the section on the Great Fire of London 1666 interesting, and also the more modern sections from the 19th century onwards. They had reconstructed early 20th century stores within the Museum (such as tailor shops) so it felt as though you were walking amidst the streets of 1900 London.

Yesterday Nicole had the idea of going to the Horniman Museum and Gardens in Dulwich Hill, so I went with her. She finds the London Underground really confusing so she wanted me to accompany her and help her out.

The Museum was really cool, especially the gardens. We had to take a train and a bus to get there but I think it was worth it.

The garden was full of different sections - there was a medicinal garden, a conservatory and an animal walk (some of it was more directed towards kids).

After looking at the gardens, we had lunch  at the cafe, then looked in the Museum which was full of taxidermy animals. The Museum is famous for its Canadian walrus which has been there for over 100 years.

After looking in the Museum, we did the animal walk which wasn't that special although it did have alpacas.

Then Nicole and I got the bus to Brixton and looked around the Brixton market before heading back.