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.