The Queen toured a new £20-million art gallery at Buckingham Palace with her husband the Duke of Edinburgh and son the Prince of Wales on Tuesday. Expected to be a major tourist attraction, the gallery combines the Palace's original small exhibition space with a section of the building's kitchens to create an area three times the size of its predecessor.
Unlike previous installations in the cramped original Queen’s Gallery, the inaugural exhibition, Royal Treasures: A Golden Jubilee Celebration is displayed in a grand space featuring a Greek portico at the entrance, a high-ceilinged hall with Homeric reliefs and a columned staircase leading to the gallery level. Designed by architect John Simpson, the new rooms form an airy backdrop against which the 450 works of art from the Royal Collection – ranging from jewellery to paintings – are displayed.
Until now the extensive Royal Collection has been largely inaccessible to members of the public. “At last, this wonderful building will enable the Royal Collection to display to the wider public, as never before, the many treasures it holds for the nation.” said Prince Charles, who is chairman of the Royal Collection Trust.
The exhibits include Sèvres porcelain, Fabergé pieces and myriad paintings, such as Van Dyck’s rendering of Charles I, Lucian Freud’s portrait of the Queen and Study Of Rocks by Monet, which the Queen Mother left to her elder daughter.
During the opening the Queen stopped to chat with ten-year-old Stephen Byrne, who was studying a book of royal treasures in the gallery’s new education room. After turning to a page on Cullinan Brooch, which is made up of two of the biggest stones cut from the largest diamond ever found, she pointed to the pin she was wearing and said, “This is the other bit. It fell off.” The “bit” she was referring to is the Heart Brooch, the fifth diamond cut from the Cullinan stone.
The inaugural exhibition runs from May 22 until January 12.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
