Question about the Roman Court @ Crystal Palace...

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Falkor
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Question about the Roman Court @ Crystal Palace...

Post by Falkor »

We know the Crystal Palace had many different models of Greek & Roman monuments...
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St Peters, Rome, in the Italian Vestibule

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Parthenon, Greece, at the back of the Greek Court

However, does anyone know when/where the Roman Colosseum was exhibited in the Crystal Palace?
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The later view shows Hadrian's Pantheon, so I'm wondering if this might have replaced the Colosseum? I've failed to find any early views showing the center of the Roman Court, which is very odd.
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leenewham
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Post by leenewham »

I don't want to sidetrack this tread (I have no answer to your question Falkor), but one thing that strikes me which Falkor said on our walk around the park was that the exhibitions in the Palace were probably better than the British Museum as they show artifacts. The palace gave them context. In this regard it also highlights again what a great loss the palace was to the nation as no-one has really done this better since. It's always irritated me about museums and makes me long for a time machine even more when I see pictures like the ones above.
tulse hill terry
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Post by tulse hill terry »

At the time the British Museum, amongst others, displayed their collection amongst casts, the Parthenon marbles had casts of the missing parts attached.

The new museum in Athens has something similar with the original marbles displayed with the pieces from other collections present as plaster casts.

Only in the 20th century, with changes of taste were only displays of actual artifacts.

I believe there were models of the Parthenon Colleseum and the Pantheon by Emil Auguste Braun. The model of St Peter's in Rome was donated later.

Oh, and don't forget the model of the Acropolis in Athens, just visible in the centre of this postcard.

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One of the images Falkor has posted shows Mr. Cheek, responsible for the repair of the casts in the 20th Century. He would regularly hold repair sessions, which might explain what the Colleseum model was doing in the Renaissance Court.

These casts, some of them huge, were quite mobile though. The Medici casts were evicted from the Italian Court to make way for the "Crystal palace Club", and then in the Roman Court, before appearing in the nave after the First world War.
Last edited by tulse hill terry on 22 Nov 2009 12:58, edited 1 time in total.
Falkor
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Post by Falkor »

I don't want to sidetrack this tread (I have no answer to your question Falkor), but one thing that strikes me which Falkor said on our walk around the park was that the exhibitions in the Palace were probably better than the British Museum as they show artifacts. The palace gave them context. In this regard it also highlights again what a great loss the palace was to the nation as no-one has really done this better since. It's always irritated me about museums and makes me long for a time machine even more when I see pictures like the ones above.
Right. The Crystal Palace was part museum, part studio. For me, the highlights of visiting a modern museum today are models and 3D animations as opposed to small artifacts behind a cabinet. The Crystal Palace would have been more better than the Museum of London or the British Museum IMO.
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Falkor
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Post by Falkor »

Terry, thanks for the info, but please can you confirm where the colosseum was exhibited inside the palace and what was in the Roman Court before the Pantheon?

This is the closest I've got to the center of the Roman Court during the heydey of the Crystal Palace (1850s/1860s):
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Also, what was this?
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tulse hill terry
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Post by tulse hill terry »

From a Verascope view ca. 1898

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Falkor
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Post by Falkor »

Good one, Terry! The Colosseum looks to have been exhibited in a corner of the Roman Court, however, I just spotted it side-by-side with the Pantheon in the view posted above; if only I had a scan from the original card then I would have spotted it since the quality isn't very good in my source:
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Falkor
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Post by Falkor »

Now all that's left to find is a picture of the Egyptian Museum with its copy of the Rosetta Stone! :)
Ulysses
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Post by Ulysses »

What inquisitive minds the pair of you!

One realises that the other was answering the query all along...

Incredible.

I deduce that the Pantheon and the Colisseum were exhibited side-by-side in the same room at the same time?

Outstanding work, the pair of you.
tulse hill terry
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Post by tulse hill terry »

What inquisitive minds the pair of you!
Mmm, it's getting very . . . . . detailed?

I've only seen this view of the Roman Court, with the models on display, in Crystal Palace Matters, is that where you got it from Falkor?

It's from a postcard by Russels & Sons #26, so published 1900-1911, but possibly taken by Negretti & Zambra image ca. 1860-70's. Certainly after the majority of views from the 1850's published, which show an empty court with statues and busts arranged against the walls.

As to the Rosetta Stone, there is something "fenced" off to the left, and not tall enough to obscure the "praying boy"from Berlin that stands behind it. Could it be . . . . ?

These casts were very mobile, so perhaps that's just where they were then. The Colleseum model was in two parts, which is perhaps why it could be moved to the Roman vestibule by 1898.
tulse hill terry
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Post by tulse hill terry »

Curious and curiouser . . . .

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regoneil
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Post by regoneil »

One of my outstansding memories of the C.P. was the model of the Colleseum, which used to fascinate me and I always had a desire to see the actual building. I was about to make a trip into Rome whilst serving in Italy during WW2 but on the day, I was suddenly posted home. Just my luck.
Falkor
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Post by Falkor »

Nice picture, Terry! Not seen that one before...
tulse hill terry
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Post by tulse hill terry »

How appropriate, the model on the left is of the Roman Forum.
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