The Tijou Gates ... and Holland on my Mind

You may remember that in the early Summer I posted about the wonderful Tijou Gates at Hampton Court,- twelve huge wrought iron panels designed by the celebrated craftsman Jean Tijou in 1690.

After a pretty chequered career, they ended up in King Willliam of Orange's privy garden.  And when I passed on the Thames Path, I was dismayed at what a mess they looked. Ugly guard-fence, weird and tatty paint scheme..
.

So I asked Historic Royal Palaces what was going on, and after a long wait, have now had a detailed reply.
I promised I would post an update, and so here it is.  They said:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"In 1702 the panels and rails were painted grey and were later seen to have been gilded. This finish has been faithfully reproduced in previous restoration projects. The screens are not painted at random. There is a deliberate painting scheme in place. The railings and 5 of the screens are the original grey colour. 6 are gilded. The black one has been painted in the past but not completely stripped and therefore holds the most evidence to understanding the previous painting schemes. We intend to take this away for further analysis later this year so we can gain the best understanding on the painting of the Tijou.

"The security measures were put in place following a series of vandalism from the Thames path. In 2002 we placed cameras on the main palace that pick up the screens and live pictures are streamed back to the control room. This has helped our security know when someone is tampering with the screens but all too often by the time they got round there the damage had been done. Hence why we had to place a barrier between the screens and the Thames Path as a further deterrent.

"This is the start of an ongoing project and as an independent charity, Historic Royal Palaces is currently raising money through donations for £1million to help us with this project, if you are able to mention
this it would greatly help our plight."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So there you are. They're doing their best, although I still think someone has lost sight of the big picture- that these gates are supposed to be beautiful and impressive, not historically authentic vandal-proof artefacts.  (Oh, but check out the Historic Royal Palaces website - lots of fabulous stuff and I can very much recommend the Enchanted Palace exhiibition which features really cutting edge exhibition design and extraordinary, creative ideas. )

To get back to King William ... he was was Dutch, as was his wife, Mary, and both of them were very keen gardeners - the Dutch have historically loved flowers. 

And I have had Holland on the brain today, having just booked some parking in Amsterdam on a Dutch website, with no English translation. I don't speak a word of Dutch, so I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself. Parking is just as much of a nightmare in Amsterdam as it in London, and prices for anywhere central are eye watering. This garage is only twenty euros a day.   It's about a kilometre's walk from the hotel, but hey, I won't be using the car while I'm in the city, and it means I don't have to use the Park and Ride and trek to and from the suburbs.

At least, I hope not. I won't be entirely sure I've made a big success of this parking booking until I've (a) got in and (b) got out, without problems.

I have been less successful in trying to find a book about Holland that will interest kids. I think it's good for children to know a bit about places they're going to visit.  I haven't been able to find a single one, and in fact there are very, very few books anywhere about other countries. I wonder why.

Still,  I found that video of "A Mouse Lived in A Windmill"  which must date from at least the 1960s and looks as if it was shot in the pouring rain.... children do like the song, though, and there must be many adults who have fond memories of singing it at school. 

The Golden Gates of Hampton Court - and Cinderella!

I have just taken a cycle trip from London to Wales, and up the Welsh borders.  On the way out of London, I passed Hampton Court Palace, and saw something new.  This 16th century door in the wall has acquired golden flowers, and if you look carefully you will see that the wooden door is also covered in flowers.  It looks like the entrance to some enchanted place.

The golden flowers echo my favourite Hampton Court feature - the beautiful ornamental gates which guard the entrance from the River Thames.  For many centuries, the roads were so bad that travel was difficult, and so the Royal Court would travel by boat.  These gates mark the spot where they would embark and disembark, and through them you see the palace and the Privy Gardens in which royalty would wait.

The gates were created by a master blacksmith called Jean Tijou, who came over to Britain with William II.  They consist of several screens linked with ornamental work and were installed in 1701.  I have searched in vain for a commentary on them, so I don't know the meaning of all the symbols, but here is the thistle of Scotland

This looks to me like the Irish harp, from the days of the Kingdom of Ireland.  

I don't know who the imp (below) represents!  Grotesque figures like this were popular at this time, though.

However, I am very sad to see that these gates are, in general, not well maintained.  When I first saw them, as a teenager, they were a magnificent sight and you could really imagine William and Mary stepping ashore from their royal barge and proceeding up towards the palace. Today, the unity of the gates has been ruined, because some of the decorative work has not been gilded when it should have been.

 

You will also notice that some of the surrounding ironwork is black, and some is grey, as if it is an undercoat - there seems to be no sensible reason for this.  At first, I thought the gates were in the process of being repainted, but actually there is rust appearing here and there, so this clearly isn't the case.

Worst of all, some ugly modern railings have been added. For security? Hardly possible that they couldn't find a better way of securing these fine works of art.   I had to poke my camera lens through the ugly modern railings, but this is what you really see when you approach the gates.

If they had tried their very, very best to create ugliness from beauty, they could hardly have been more successful.  And it's strange, because the rest of the palace has had great care lavished upon it. You'd almost think that these gates have been singled out as the Cinderellas of Hampton Court.

 I'm going to write to Historic Royal Palaces, which now runs Hampton Court, and see if I can get an explanation.   I'll keep you posted ....

PS. That was quick! They responded to say that they're about to undertake a ten year programme of conservation on the gates.  Which explains the motley appearance, rust, etc.  And they have promised to send me further information about this. No explanation so far about the ugly railings, but I suspect I may get some answers if I try  the SPAB who take a keen interest in old buildings.