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QUEEN’S
GALLERY - BUCKINGHAM PALACE
Royal Art Collection on View
The
recent royal wedding and travels of Prince William and Kate, the newly
minted Duchess of Cambridge have brought the dusty,
musty old English
royal family back to the spotlight for a younger generation. For those
visitors to London looking to see a few royal knick-knacks, after checking
out the wedding coaches at the mews (see Royal Mews Coaches), why not
pop next door to check out some of the art from the Queen’s storage
attic. Okay, maybe it’s a really big attic. Much of the royal wealth
lies in the massive collection of art held “in trust for the Nation” meaning
it belongs to the crown and not the individual who wears it.
The
Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace is not actually in the
palace, but on the grounds with access from Buckingham Palace Road around
the corner from the main gate. The galley which presents rotating exhibitions
of the paintings and other art treasure from the extensive Royal Collection
is a rather intimate space, as cozy and sumptuous as the British National
Gallery is grand and cavernous. The Queen’s Gallery was built 40
years ago from a former palace garden chapel bombed out during the London
Blitz of WWII, and completely refurbished and expanded for the Queen’s
Golden Jubilee in 2002, and will be celebrating its 50th birthday when
the Olympics are in town in 2012.
The Royal Collection was mostly formed since the Restoration of Charles
II in 1660. There are some items from earlier monarchs like Henry VIII.
Much
of earlier
treasures of the monarchy were dispersed under Oliver Cromwell, with
current holdings the royal patrons now chiefly associated with royal
patrons George III and George IV; Queen Victoria and Prince Albert; and
Queen Mary, the consort of George V. The art on display can range through
a variety of periods and themes - Italian Renaissance and Baroque to
Dutch Masters, furniture, clothing and personal items of kings, queens,
princes and princesses.
Exhibitions 2011 – 2012- Dutch Landscapes to Da Vinci
Through October of
2011, exhibitions of Dutch Landscapes by Jacob van Ruisdael and Aelbert
Cuyp are on offer, while some of the great treasures acquired by kings
and queens over 500 years form in two themed displays, Mythology and
Regency. The twined exhibits examine Greek and Roman myths in painting,
sculpture, furniture and decorative arts, and the 200th anniversary of
the Regency Act of 1811, focused on the collecting of the Prince Regent,
the future George IV, who was the most prolific art collector of the
British royals. From October 2011 to April of 2012 will be an exhibition
of Antarctic Photography of the Scott and Shackleton expeditions. From
May 4 to October 7, 2012 for the Olympic year the Da Vinci “code” returns
to London with Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomy, the largest collection the
human body studies of Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci.
Visiting the Queen’s Gallery
The gallery is open daily from 10 am to 5:30 pm with the last entry an hour before closing. During August and September it opens at 9:30 am. Admission is £9 for adult, £8.20 for student and senior over 60, £4.50 under 17 and kids under 5 free. A family ticket (2 adults and 3 under 17) is available for £22.50. Tickets can be purchased online. The Queen’s Gallery is included in the London Pass. And since the entrance is seperate from the palace, you don't have to worry whether the queen is home. © Bargain Travel Europe
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Royal
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See Also:
LONDON
SIGHTSEEING PASS - A ROYAL 2011
TOWER OF LONDON - CROWN JEWELS AND EXECUTIONS
VISITING BIG BEN AND PARLIAMENT
LONDON'S TOWER BRIDGE EXHIBITION
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