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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment