The Royal Pavilion in Brighton - interesting facts

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

The Royal Pavilion in Brighton is not as well known to the general public as other palaces of high society people in England. However, once you see this unique palace in a photograph, you want to visit this seaside city and get to know it with your own eyes. The pavilion is interesting not only for its exotic appearance in the Indo-Chinese style, magnificent interior decoration, but also for its fascinating history.

In the article we will introduce readers in detail to the Royal Pavilion of Great Britain, tell where it is located, how to get there from London. It will be interesting to know all the details of the history of the building.

A brief history of Brighton

Bristemestune is a medieval small town on the coast, whose inhabitants were engaged in catching fish, trading with neighboring settlements. Fishing boats, setting off to sea, were guided by the top of St. Nicholas Church. She was not only a lighthouse leading sailors to their native shores, St. Nicholaswas considered the patron saint of fishermen.

In the summer of 1514, during the war with the French, the city was burned by enemy troops, only a small part of the church remained. After the end of the war, the city was already called Brighthelmstone. Gradually, it was restored, and the fishing fleet was engaged in fishing. Under Queen Elizabeth I at the end of the 15th century, solid and stable ships were used, which the fishermen perfectly pulled onto the pebbly shore. However, trouble came unexpectedly. Several storms completely destroyed the coast, most of the embankment collapsed. Residents lost their main income from the sea, and the city, renamed Brighton for the third time, fell into decay.

Dr. Russell's Marine Treatment

The city received a new life quite unexpectedly. In 1750, Richard Russell published his doctoral thesis, which described the benefits of sea baths, exercise for people with gout and other diseases, described the benefits of iodine in sea water. The popular approval of the article had an effect on the people of Brighton, and residential buildings for the doctor's patients quickly sprang up in the seaside resort. Vacationers from other cities in England flocked to Brighton for popular sea water treatments. The inhabitants of the city perked up, because now they were all in business. Special bathing machines were built, which, on wheels with the help of bathers, sent Russell's patients into sea water.

Decided to receive treatment from a famous doctor and a gouty princeWelsh, whom the local "bather" Smokeker Miles taught to swim. The procedures took place all year round, some bathed even in winter, but for the rest, sea pools were built.

Wish of the Prince of Wales

The Royal Pavilion was built in Brighton for George IV, who came to be treated for his swollen glands in his neck. The prince really enjoyed being away from his father's impetuous court. Hiding, ostensibly for procedures on the seashore, the prince arranged lavish receptions, races, theatrical performances and gambling in a rented house, gathering his friends around him.

The privacy of the Royal Pavilion allowed the prince to enjoy more than just the company of his comrades. In his life there was an illegal relationship with Maria Fitzerberg. His father was against the marriage of the prince to a girl, and then George went against his parent and secretly married Mary in 1785. With the woman he loved, he spent all his free time in Brighton. Even when, by order of his father, the prince was forced to marry his cousin, and they had a daughter, he did not stop meeting his beloved Mary in the Royal Pavilion.

Building history

When George IV first arrived in Brighton for a therapeutic bath, he rented the beautiful mansion of farmer Thomas Kemp. Deciding to stay in the city for a long time, the prince called the architect Henry Holland in 1787 to remodel the house. He made several changes, adding to the central dome, and tiling this neoclassical maritime pavilion. Even after the first reconstruction, the building stood out against the background of neighboring buildings made of simple brick and stone.

The second rebuilding of the Prince's beloved Royal Pavilion was undertaken by another architect, John Nash, who made significant changes both to the exterior of the building and to its interior decoration. The reconstruction went on for 7 long years, and already in 1823 everyone saw the eastern appearance of the building.

During this period, the Prince of Wales became first regent, and from 1820 - King George IV. However, the monarch did not increase the size of the house in order to emphasize his position in society, but all the same, his subjects criticized the extravagance of the king. During the construction period, there was a war, revolutionary events took place in France and America. Some ministers were afraid that the reckless behavior of the monarch would lead Britain to similar sentiments of citizens suffering from lack of money and unemployment. But the king did not pay attention to criticism, and the Royal Pavilion turned out to be extravagant. In the design, the architect Nash mixed Indian, Chinese, Saracen and Moorish motifs. He decorated the building with openwork terraces, onion-shaped domes, chimneys that look like minarets, side towers that resemble pagodas.

Interior decoration

The palace rooms are somewhat pompous, the king wanted to show luxury in front of foreign guests, so often the interior and furniture did not have a functional value. For a long time the palace was not used, during the Second World War there was a hospital forwounded, so part of the interior was lost.

Now the Royal Pavilion in England has been restored from old engravings and preserved drawings.

Tourists visiting the museum today are impressed from the first steps by the lobby, a banquet hall with a domed ceiling and a crystal chandelier that weighs 1 ton and is 9 meters long. Amazes the guests and the huge kitchen.

More information

The Marine Pavilion is built in the center of Brighton, a 10-minute walk from the sea coast. You can get to it from any station in London by National Rail trains, only 2 hours away.

Renting a car is even faster. You need to drive along the M23 / A23 highway. There is nowhere to park your car in the city center, where the Royal Pavilion is located, so it is recommended to stop at parking lots on the outskirts of the city. The museum is open from 10:00 to 17:00. The price of an adult ticket is 10 pounds. During the tourist season, from April to October, the museum is open from 9:30 to 17:45. At Christmas, the museum is closed for 2 days.