The Center of Space and Time, and History

Greenwich was at one time home to one of the great royal palaces, and currently has a large park that was enclosed by Henry VIII for hunting deer. The royal palace (Palace of Placentia) has quite a history of its own (http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Palace-of-Placentia-Greenwich). 

What is of most important historical significance about Greenwich took place on a hill above where the palace stood in a collection of buildings, the Royal Observatory. Charles II founded the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park in 1675 and appointed John Flamsteed as his first Astronomer Royal. The Observatory was built to improve navigation at sea and 'find the so-much desired longitude of places' – one's exact position east and west – while at sea and out of sight of land, by astronomical means. 

Longitude is the exact position east and west. Without knowing how to measure it, ships couldn't accurately determine where they were. This was a major problem, especially on long ocean journeys when ships were making long voyages across the oceans and didn't have any visual clues for weeks at a time. A major shipwreck forced the issue to be solved and Parliament passed an Act declaring a reward for solving the longitude problem, should certain stipulations be met. It took nearly 60 years for the prize to be claimed. In the end it went not to a famous astronomer, scientist or mathematician, but to a little-known Yorkshire carpenter turned clockmaker, John Harrison, who invented four chronometers. His fourth chronometer, and the winner, changed navigation forever. 

The Royal Observatory is also the source of the Prime Meridian of the world, Longitude 0° 0' 0''. Every place on the Earth is measured in terms of its distance east or west from this line. The line itself divides the eastern and western hemispheres of the Earth – just as the Equator divides the northern and southern hemispheres.

By international decree, the Prime Meridian is the official starting point for each new day, year and millennium. Prime Meridian is defined by the position of the large 'Transit Circle' telescope in the Observatory's Meridian Observatory. This was built by Sir George Biddell Airy, the 7th Astronomer Royal, in 1850. The cross-hairs in the eyepiece of the Transit Circle precisely define Longitude 0º for the world. 

How did the center of the world become centered at Greenwich? Since the late 19th century, the Prime Meridian at Greenwich has served as the co-ordinate base for the calculation of Greenwich Mean Time. Before this, almost every town in the world kept its own local time. There were no national or international conventions to set how time should be measured, or when the day would begin and end, or what the length of an hour might be. However, with the vast expansion of the railway and communications networks during the 1850s and 1860s, the worldwide need for an international time standard became imperative.

The Greenwich Meridian was chosen to be the Prime Meridian of the World in 1884. Forty-one delegates from 25 nations met in Washington DC for the International Meridian Conference and voted 22:1 for Greenwich as Longitude 0º. The decision was based on the argument that naming Greenwich as Longitude 0º would inconvenience the least number of people. 

Ancient Castle as Stately Home

What would it be like to live in a truly authentic medieval castle today? 

Situationed in West Sussex, Arundel Castle serves as the principal seat and home of the family of the Duke of Norfolk and has been in the family's ownership or over 400 years. Unlike the adventure in Wales to Conwy Castle, which is a shell of its former glory, Arundel Castle is still a running and working castle, remodeled and restored after some historical disasters.

Arundel castle's history starts, as much of English history does, with William the Conqueror. He granted the earldom of Arundel to Roger de Montgomery, who built the castle in 1067. After a few reversions to the crown, the FitzAlan family received Arundel Castle in the thirteenth century and had it until 1580. The FitzAlan line ended when it was united with the Howard family in the 1500s when Mary FitzAlan, daughter to the nineteenth earl, became the first wife of Thomas Howard, the 4th Duke of Norfolk. (This the same Duke of Norfolk from this entry who was executed by Elizabeth I for high treason. Arundel Castle was among the lands lost because of Norfolk's betrayal.) It was because of this marriage that the modern Dukes of Norfolk derive their surname as FitzAlan-Howard and Arundel Castle as their seat. The castle was later returned to the family. 

The castle underwent changes and restructuring to meet the requirements of the nobility throughout history. When Empress Matilda stayed at Arundel in 1139, apartments were constructed to accommodate her and her entourage, which survive to this day. The FitzAlans renovated and repaired the castle, and added to the well tower and a new entrance to the keep. A chapel was added in the fourteenth century.  The castle was badly damaged during the Civil War when it was besieged twice by the Royalist who took control, and then later by the Parliamentarian forces. The castle wasn't repaired from this damage until the 8th Duke began repairs, and the 11th Duke completed them. He desired to live and entertain at the castle over his other ducal properties. He designed and built the library, which has been revised and remodeled. The 13th Duke continued improvements to the castle, building a new suite of rooms for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's visit in 1848, and refurbishing all parts of the castle where the Queen may visit. 

The current castle was completed around 1900 by the 15th Duke and was one of the first English country houses to be fitted with electric light, service elevators, and central heating. The castle appears truly medieval from the outside, what with crenulations, towers, and arrow slits, but it has all the conveniences of the modern period within. 

Seeing Britain Through Art

The only way to end my two week holiday in Britain is with a truly British institution. I started the London portion of the holiday with the British Museum and am ending it with Tate Britain.

The Tate Britain sits on the Thames in the Pimlico neighborhood and looks like a smaller British Museum, with a ground round dome under which is a rotunda court in gleaming white marble. It however is nowhere near as overwhelming in terms of its collection and can easily be done Ina few hours. It's also the perfect pairing to go with the National Portrait Gallery.

The Tate is named after Sir Henry Tate, an industrialist who had made his fortune as a sugar refiner, offered his collection of British art to the National Gallery in 1889. However, the  National Gallery did not have space for Tate's collection. So to remedy this problem, Tate created a new gallery dedicated to British art, opening to the public in 1897. This gallery grew to hold more than just Tate's collection but the works for British artists from various other collections. The original name of the gallery was the National Gallery of British Art.

The result is a fine collection dating from the 16th century to the present with most of Britain's leading artists represented, such as Gainsborough, Reynolds, Constable, Hogarth, Blake, and of course JMW Turner. The Tate has the largest collection of Turner's works spread over seven rooms. Turner willed most of his paintings and watercolors to the British nation, and he intended that a special gallery would be built to house them.

It also has an impressive number of the Pre-Raphaelites, which is a wholly British movement in 19th century art. Founded in 1848 by by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, critics. The groups purpose was to reform art and return it to the colorful and complex compositions of Italian art before the adoption of Classical ideals of Raphael  and Michelangelo.  The Pre-Raphaelites' paintings on display correspond with the Romantic period of poetry. One of the most stunning pieces is John Williams Waterhouse's "The Lady of Shalott,"which colorfully and mournfully illustrates lines from Tennyson's poem.

There couldn't have been a better way to end a truly British holiday, excursions that spanned time and country, then to walk through 500 years of British art.  To see the scope and depth of the change in British art across time was the perfect compliment to bookend the heritage contributions to British history.

A Visit with the Royals and their Country Estate

When I realized how close Cambridge is to the Queens' Norfolk country retreat, Sandringham, I knew I had to make time to see it. Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh regularly visit Sandringham for the holidays. I got to chatting with one of the very friendly and knowledgable docents who informed me that they close the house around the end of October to make it ready to receive the Royal family and it stays closed to the public until around February. The staff in the house also work in the house with the Royal Family. He in fact services the boilers to the house. (A good man to have around in the English winters and a large drafty house.) The house was first opened to the public in 1977. The main ground-floor rooms, regularly used by the Royal Family, are decorated in the Edwardian style of the house's original Royal occupants. 

The site has been occupied since the Elizabethan Era. Sandringham Hall was built in 1771, the hall was rebuilt in the 19th century after it was purchased by Queen Victoria for her eldest son and his new bride, the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, and Queen Alexandra. It has been passed down as a private home through four generations of British monarchs.

The lineage of the British monarchy since Queen Victoria can be traced by the inhabitants of Sandringham. Edward VII and Queen Alexandra had two sons, Albert Victor and George Frederick. Albert, the heir apparent, was engaged to marry Princess Mary of Teck. Mary would be Queen but not due to her marriage to Albert Victor. Unfortunately, he would die of pneumonia, January 14, 1982 at Sandringham. A year after Albert's death, George and Mary were engaged and married in 1893 and they would become King George V and Queen Mary in 1910. They would also have two sons, Albert Edward (Edward VIII who abdicated) and Albert Frederick, who would become King George VI. George VI married Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and their eldest daughter is the current reigning Queen Elizabeth II. There you have it - the four generations of royal lineage who have occupied Sandringham.

The resulting red-brick house, completed in 1870, is a mixture of styles. The galleried entrance hall is still used by the Royal Family for entertaining and family occasions, also the entrance for the publicly accessible rooms, which include a small drawing room, a larger parlor room, the dining room, and a hallway leading to the ball room, which was attached later. The decor and contents remain as they were in the Edwardian times. Both Queen Alexandra and later Queen Mary were collectors of objects d'art. Members of the Russian and European Royal Families (also relatives of the British Royal Family) were frequent guests to Sandringham and brought gifts, which are on also on display. 

Also on the estate is St. Mary Magdalene Church, where the Royal Family attends Christmas services. A medieval church that dates to the 16th century and restored in 1857, it is a small church in the Perpendicular style. The Chancel is quiet incredible (and here's what it looks like because sadly, I wasn't allowed to take pictures.) There are memorials to many members and relations of the Royal Family in the church (Victoria, Edward VII, Alexandra, George V, George VI and Queen Elizabeth) and churchyard. 

In addition to touring the first floor of the house, there are also about 600 acres of country park and garden. The formal planting of the Edwardian age is incorporated with rolling hills, grass paths, and gravel walkways in wooded glens. Peaceful and quiet, it is easy to understand the draw of these gardens for the Royal Family seeking solemnity and serenity. 

The Sound of England

Everyone knows the sounds of the Westminster Quarters. (I experienced the 2 p.m. ringing of Big Tom, the bell at Lincoln Cathedral, which is where I first learned of the music's origin.) The number of chime sets correspond to the quarter hours that have passed. The permutations are always played in order, with the count of the hour struck at the top. But, there's an interesting story to this omnipresent melody, with an English connection, of course.

The Westminster Quarters are also called the Cambridge Chimes. The chimes originated at the church of St. Mary the Great in Cambridge, which has a long association to bells. The Society of Cambridge Youths was founded in 1724 to formalize the responsibility to ring St. Mary's bells.

The chimes were adopted in the mid-19th century by the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster, which houses the very famous bell, Big Ben, that sings out these tunes. The adoption of the Cambridge Chimes for Big Ben spread the use of the tune and thus the name from Cambridge Chimes to Westminster Quarters.

A little bit of Cambridge is experienced every time a clock or church bell rings out on the quarter of the hour.

Afternoon of Art

For my last day in London, I spent it viewing the most amazing works of European art at both the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery.

On a gorgeously warm and sunny day (the weather truly has been magnificent and yes, everyone here really does talk about the weather all the time), I walked from Lincoln's Inn Fields to Trafalgar Square to first go to the National to see their collection of more than 2,300 paintings. The National is the perfect art museum for me because it covers my favorite periods of Western art - mid-1200s to 1900. The layout is chronological, though the galleries are not organized sequentially. Starting with the Renaissance greats, I saw works by Lippi, Leonardo's The Virgin on the Rocks, and one of my all-time favorite Dutch Renaissance paintings, Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait. Moving into the 16th century, the typical European Old Masters are represented by Titan, El Greco, and my favorite, Hans Holbein, which is represented by The Ambassadors. I spent more in the 18th and 19th centuries than in the 17th century with the Gainsborough's, Turner's, Constable's, Hogarth's, Renior's, and Manet's.

After two hours of art-viewing, I needed to rejuvenate. On a recommendation, I ventured across the street to St. Martin-in-the-Field's for lunch in it's cafe. Ironic that the church's name includes "in the Fields" considering it sits off of Trafalgar Square. However, St. Martin's used to truly be surrounded by fields when it was founded in the 13th century. The current 18th-century building was constructed by James Gibbs, a follower of Christopher Wren. The interior is adorned with Italian plasterwork and a huge mahogany and silver organ. The cafe is in the church's crypt with gravestones for Charles II's mistress, Nell Gwynne, among many others underfoot of the cafe's patrons. (By the way, the food truly was excellent.)

On to what is now my favorite museum in London, the National Portrait Gallery. The Portrait Gallery's collection is based on identity of the subject and not necessarily on who the artist is or the artist's talent. The works vary hugely in quality and have been organized by the subject and the time in which the subject lived rather than the time in which the piece was painted, like the National. Beginning chronologically with the Plantagenets and Tudors and ending with the current period, the portraits of royalty, artists, writers, politicians, scientists, musicians, and philosophers are presented. I spent two hours and still ran out of time (because they were closing and I spent too much time in the Tudor and Stuart rooms) so I wasn't able to see the modern portraits, such as this one of the Duchess of Cambridge. But I got to see my favorite portrait of Elizabeth I.

I love this museum not only because of the subject matter but because taken on a whole, the Portrait Gallery presents a visual map of the Britain's history. The historical actors depicted in these works of art have each influenced the creation of this unique nation.

Photos from the day can be found here.

The Ship of the Fens

Another Cathedral to check off the list, my third in a week. (The first being St. Paul's and the second being Lincoln's.) Today I ventured up from Cambridge to Ely to see the town and the Cathedral.

Ely's Cathedral can be seen for miles before you reach England's second smallest city (Fun fact! Wells is England's smallest city.) The cathedral is known as "the ship of the Fens" because Ely used to be an island surrounded by freshwater marshes, which are Fens. Ely is named as such because of the eels that were found in the marshes and thus the land became known as Eel Isle, which then became Ely.

The cathedral's history dates back to the 7th century when the original cathedral was built by a monastic community. Pilgrims came to Ely for centuries to visit the shrine of Saint Etheldreda (referred to locally as Audrey), who was the daughter of the king of East Anglia and died in 680.

Like most cathedrals, Ely is a conglomeration of many centuries of architectural styles. After the Normans invaded Ely, which took them five years to finally do, they enhanced the current building. The 11th century Norman nave's series of columns leads to the Gothic-styled Octagon Tower, which supports a distinctive wooden roof. The original tower crashed in the 14th century due to instability in the foundation. The Octagon was built from 1320 to 1340 by William Hurley, who later became Master Carpenter to the King at Westminster. I went on a tour to the top of the Octagon and saw for myself the many massively large oak trees that are used to support the lantern atop the tower. At the time the oak trees were cut down in the middle of the 14th century, they would have already been many hundreds of years old. This wood then is well over a thousand year's old.

The Octagon incorporates medieval carvings that tell the story of Etheldreda. Unfortunately, Saint Etheldreda's shrine and many of the Cathedral's statues were destroyed in the Reformation. Most of the stained glass windows were created and installed in the Victorian period of the late 19th-century as was a painted wooden ceiling.

Ely also has a historic connection to Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth after the English Civil Wars ended in 1651. Cromwell lived in Ely for 10 years from 1636 to 1646 when he inherited the property and the position as the local tax collector from his uncle. The house still stands and is a museum of Cromwell and 17th-century domestic life.

To end my pilgrimage to Ely and to sample a bit of English domesticity, I ended my day with a true English tea - an egg and watercress sandwich, scones with jam and cream, and a pot of tea. One thing I've enjoyed most this week is the copious amounts of tea I've had - at least three small pots a day. How will I incorporate my afternoon treat of tea and cake into my normal life?

Photos from the day can be found here.

Medical History, Oddities, and Curiosities

Today, I embarked on a theme - medical history - which ties my everyday life to my hobby of history. I first went to the Royal London Hospital Museum, which was a bit tricky to find as it is in the crypt (restored) of a late 19th century church, St. Philip's Church, in Whitechapel. The London Hospital was founded in 1740 and became Britain's largest voluntary hospital. (I could write so much about the history of the London Hospital, but will focus this just on the museum.)  The museum is divided by the centuries within which it has operated.

The 18th century section gives an overview on the foundation of the hospital and medical education and health in the 18th century. An operation bell of 1792 hangs by the front door. The bell was rung to call attendants to the operating room to hold a patient still. 

The 19th century section displays contemporary surgical instruments and medical equipment, surgery before antisepsis, and profiles Florence Nightingale and Eva Luckes, a hospital matron.  

The 20th century section focuses on the first and second World Wars, Nurse Edith Cavell, and scientific advances in medicines, such as x-rays. 

Continuing onwards, I next went to the Hunterian Museum, which is in the Royal College of Surgeons. On display is the collection of medical oddities and curiosities of the late 18th century physician John Hunter. He gathered all sorts of items, human, animal, and plant, to instruct his medical students. Hunter believed that surgeons should study the structure and function of all sorts of living things to understand how the human body adapts to injuries, diseases, and environmental impacts. Edward Jenner (of the smallpox vaccine fame) and Astley Cooper (a surgeon and anatomist who described several new anatomical structures, which are named after him) were both students of Hunter. The collection includes two floors and shelves upon shelves of pickled animal and body parts in jars, surgical instruments, and case studies of successful experimental surgeries, such as repairing facial gunshot wounds to World War I soldiers. The honestly coolest thing were boards of lacquered systems of arteries, veins, and nerves. The human subject would have been placed on the board and then all else but what currently remains on the board was dissected away.

Next, was the Wellcomme Collection. I was so excited to see this since it is described by my Frommer's guide as, "the capital's finest museum of medicine." Sadly, most of the collection is closed because the museum is undergoing remodeling. Here's what I missed! I'll just have to come back after it reopens in 2014.

So since I had more time then I had planned, I took the opportunity to visit the British Library. For a bibliophile  and nerd, the British Library is Mecca. First of all, it is receives a copy of every single title published in the U.K. and stored on 400 miles of shelves. The only thing I saw (and had time for) was "Treasures of the British Library," which displays 200 of the library's holdings, such as Shakespeare folios; drawings by Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Durer; Jane Austen's writing desk and letters; a slightly singed copy of Beowulf; musical scores by Beethoven, Mozart, and Handel (incidentally, Beethoven and Mozart's scores were clean but Handel's had many scribbles); a letter from Elizabeth I to her brother, Edward VI; a speech to Parliament by George III's; loads of illuminated manuscripts and maps; and of courses the 1215 Magna Carta. I never pass up the opportunity to see one of the many versions of the Magna Carta. To me it is the epitome of English and British history as a symbol of the foundation of the state. 

And that is exactly what I'm experiencing everyday in this magnificent city and country - the epitome of English and British history that surrounds me as I walk like the New Yorker I am up Bloomsbury Street and past the British Museum, around Lincoln's Inn and Chancery (Shout out to Bleak Houses!),  and through Whitechapel.

Photos from the day can be found here. 

Experiencing History and Magic

On this lovely sunny and breezy Sunday, I made my way into Cambridge to see what this town is all about since it is so near and dear to my nearest and dearest friends. It was described to me by a friend as, "one of my favorite places on the planet" and another as "just a magical little bubble."

I was guided by my incredibly knowledgeable host, who had something to say about literally everything we passed. In essence, I just followed her and listened.

We first made our way to Chesterton's St. Andrew's Church, to see a medieval wall painting of the Final Judgement.

Walking into town by way of the Midsummer Common and through Jesus Green, we first stopped at St. John's College. Entering St. John's through the gateway with the Tudor coat of arms, we walked along the quads (not through the grass because only Fellows (American equivalent are Professors) are allowed to walk on the grass*) to stand on Kitchen Bridge to see the Bridge of Sighs and watch people punting on the Cam. The Bridge of Sighs, built in the 19th century, was inspired by the covered bridge at the Doge's Palace in Venice.

*According to Cambridge lore, there is evidently "a load of special ducks" that would sit on the green in Emmanuel College. It was noticed that the ducks would sit on the green, which is not allowed since only Fellows are allowed on the green. Therefore, logic would dictate the following three options:
1. It doesn't matter that ducks are on the green. Ducks sit on grass and do not abide by historic precedent for their nesting needs.
2. Let anyone walk on the green.
3. Make the ducks Fellows so that they would be aligned with Cambridge rules and traditions and therefore allowed on the green.

Emmanuel College went with the most logical option, number three. No examples are yet known of students being lectured by a duck, yet.

Venturing onwards to see the next in the series of the "Big Three" Colleges, Trinity College. The largest college, Trinity College was founded in 1546 when Henry VIII consolidated many smaller colleges on the site. The one thing I really wanted to see was the Wren Library. Designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1695, the library contains many special collections,such as 1,250 medieval manuscripts, early Shakespeare editions, and many of Sir Isaac Newton's own book. Unfortunately, we weren't able to go inside, but I did at least see it from the outside.

To see the College that I've heard the most about, we next went to Trinity Hall, which was founded in 1350. Trinity Hall was founded by the Bishop of Norwich to promote the study of law since so many lawyers had died of the Black Death. Law still remains one of the College's strengths.

Lastly, we ended the College tour with King's College. Founded by Henry VI in 1441, the College's most famous feature is it's Chapel. The most exquisite aspect is the glorious van faulting, which is the largest fan vault in the world measuring 289 feet. Henry VIII sponsored the stained-glass window and gifted the organ, which is engraved with his initials and Anne Boleyn's thus dating the organ to the three years he was married to her from 1533 to 1536.

Walking through the center of town, we wandered around the Market, which has been in place since the Medieval age. It was quite amazing to be perusing goods in the same place that people have been doing the very same activity for hundreds of years. 

That time period of several hundred years pales in comparison to my next stop - The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. I held a hand axe that is 800,000 years old and a pebble chopper that is approximately 1.2 million years old. It was honestly astounding. Receiving literally the Grand Tour of the museum from my tour guide (who happens to work there), it was amazing to see all the hard and very cool work she does every day.

Walking home along the Cam, I concluded that Cambridge is magical.

Photos from the day can be found here.

Christmas, Victorian Style

Like many things from the Victorian Era, we have inherited celebrating Christmas the way we do: as a day with family and friends, surrounded by green decorations and a tree, exchanging presents. Prior to the nineteenth-century, Christmas was hardly celebrated. Yet by the end of the century, Christmas was fully installed as the family-oriented tradition we have today.

And it began with Her Majesty, Queen Victoria. Her marriage to Prince Albert brought German traditions to Britain, such as the decorated Christmas tree, which was a tradition reminiscent of Prince Albert's childhood in Germany.

Shortly after this image was published in the Illustrated London News, Britains began decorated a tree, decorated with candles, fruit, and ornaments.

Decorating homes for the Christmas holiday became an elaborate affair during the Victorian era. Using evergreens, a medieval tradition, continued still but the way decorations were styled and placed became more uniformed, orderly, and elegant. Instructions were provided for elaborate decorations in lady's magazines, such as this entry in Cassell's Family Magazine for cultivating evergreens.

The Victorian magazine The Designer, published an article regarding holiday decorations that advises "a few simple floral decorations carefully and harmoniously carried out will assuredly add to the pleasures of the day." And of course, evergreens are a focus:

If one has an abundance of greens, such as Holly, Mistletoe, Laurel or anything else that is evergreen, the decoration of archways, the mantel, or even of corners between the windows and doors may be appropriately carried out but only when there is an abundance of material.

So as you decorate your tree and home this season, give small thanks to the Victorians who imbued the holiday with the practices we have today for celebrating the season.

References:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/victorianchristmas/history.shtml
http://victoriantimes.us/

Rights for Women!

In my travels in upstate New York, I passed through Seneca Falls where, in 1848, the Women’s Rights Convention occurred on July 19 and 20 in the Wesleyan Chapel. The church was known as a haven for antislavery activity, political rallies, and free speech events.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Martha Wright, and Mary Ann M'Clintock met in the home of Jane Hunt in Waterloo, New York to plan the First Women's Rights Convention. This was the first meeting to be held for the purpose of discussing the “social, civil, and religious conditions and the rights of woman.” It was the beginning of the women’s rights movement in the United States. 

See the full gallery on Posterous

At the time the convention was held, women were not equal to men in the law, church, or government. They could not vote, hold elective office, attend college, or earn a living wage. If married, they could not make legal contracts, divorce, or gain custody of their children. These hindrances on a woman's person and actions dictated the path of her life and, in the broader perspective, effected the structure of politics and economies, society and culture. 

The Report of the Woman's Rights Convention, a copy of the minutes from the 1848 meeting, was circulated at local and national women's rights conventions. (The text of the report can be read here.) 

The Declaration of Sentiments was presented at the Women's Rights Convention. Based on the Declaration of Independence, it stated that "all men and women are created equal" and demanded equal rights for women and the right to vote. The Wesleyan Chapel, a National Historical Park, displays the entire Declaration of Sentiments in as a monument to this moment in history that changed everything everyone had ever known. 

See the full gallery on Posterous

 

A Room of One's Own

Apologies for the lack of blog posts in the past two months. I've switched jobs and so with all my efforts directed at "life" there has been little time for "play." Until now! 

I recently visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibit "Rooms With a View: The Open Window in the 19th Century," which depicts interiors with windows by 19th-century European artists. The show explores the open window as a favored concept of Romantic painters. The pieces span from the early 1800s to the 1860s. (To place these works into historical context, parts of Europe were recovering from the ravages of the Napoleonic Wars while in others there were liberal revolts that gave rise to the age of nationalism.)

There were many pieces in this exhibit that struck me as incredibly intimate and thought-provoking for a variety of reasons:

1. Caspar Daniel Fredrich's "Woman at the Window", 1822

There is such a deep intimacy to witnessing this peaceful moment. I feel as though I have just walked into this room where this woman is standing and am afraid to interrupt her. Yet, I'm utterly enthralled with watching her watch something outside. She is leaning forward and slightly turned to get a better look out of the window. What does she see? Is she expecting someone or is there something happening outside? In addition to my curiosity of what is drawing her attention, I enjoy the green palatte of this piece (better seen in person than on a screen) and the complimentary hues of her green dress, the green walls and shutters, and the lighter shades of green seen through the window.

 

2. Adolph Menzel's "Sleeping Seamstress by the Window"

This sweet little image is of the artist's sister. She was too busy working to pose for him, but he was lucky and captured her at an opportune time of unguardedness when she drifted off to sleep. The theme of intimacy of this show is epitimozed in this work because what is more serene and private than that of a sleeping form? I imagine that she was too busy to pose for her brother because she has too much work to do, and in working so hard she has exhausted herself. So she takes a brief reprieve to put her work down and shut her eyes in the warm sun of this day.

 

As an alternative to the pieces that allow us a peek into private moments, there are those that allow you to almost step into the scene and take a place in the moment the artist has chosen to depict:

3. Caspar Daniel Fredrich's "View from the Artist's Studio, Window on the Left", 1805-06

This is the river Elbe from Friedrich's studio in Dresden. This piece is more than simply showing the perspective of the Elbe from the room. It is a juxtaposition of the near view of the window and wall and the far view of outside the window as well as the balance between the dark interior and the bright outdoors. This simple work is a metaphor for the Romantic's unfulfilled longing for possibilities; of what is beyond the window, what is beyond the confines of his life, what he hopes for, what he wants, what he portrays on the confined space of his canvas within the confined space of his studio.

 

4. Carl Ludwig Kaaz's "View from Grassi's Villa toward the Plauensche Grande near Dresden," 1807

This piece surprisingly is my favorite. I felt a true sense of realism.  As I approached it on the wall, I simultaneously felt as if I was approaching the window. I was transported to Dresden, looking out on this quiet serene countryside, feeling the breeze, and hearing the rustling of the trees. By stepping into the artist's world, I became not a viewer of this work but its subject. I imagined that the artist is standing behind me capturing me as I peer out the window because something caught my attention and drew it away from my book, which I've set down on the window sill.  In that instance I felt like Fredrich's "Woman at the Window" in which a private moment is captured before it disappears. 

Spring Cleaning - A Moral Duty

It is officially (and finally!) spring, which necessitates the "spring cleaning" frenzies. In my research for last week's post about kitchen's in a Victorian middle-class house, I discovered the genesis of our spring cleaning habits. (An excerpt from 1872 from The Manufacturer and Builder, a "practical journal of industrial progress.")

During the time when houses, and kitchens, ran on coal for heating and cooking, the main reason for spring cleaning was to remove the winter dirt produced by coal, oil, gas, and candles. Also with the longer daylight hours and warmer weather, the need for the constant fires in every room diminished. The servants had more time without the daily cleaning of grates and caring for fires. 

Rather than fight the dirt and dust produced by these fuels, people adapted to its presence with some inventive tools and practices: 

• latches to both street doors and inner doors had small plates or curtains fitted over the keyhole to keep out dirt
• plants on window sills trapped dust as it flew in
• muslin was nailed across windows to stop the soot or windows only opened at the top to limit the amount of soot and dirt that came in
• tablecloths were laid on tables just before meals. If they were kept out all day, dust settled from the fires, quickly making the tablecloths dingy

Thankfully we do not have coal-burning stoves and fires, oil and gas lamps, and dripping candles to clean up and care for. But it still is a common practice to throw open the windows, shake out the rugs, flip the mattresses, and air out the house after the long winter months. And there are plenty of advice books, magazines, and articles to inform and 'guide' the modern housewife on what to do and how to do it. (see any Martha Stewart article in any spring publication). Even in the nineteenth century there was a publishing market that targeted the mistresses of houses to maintain order and cleanliness within the home.

Our Homes, an advice book from 1881 by Shirley Foster Murphy stated: "If once we commence a war against dirt, we can never lay down our arms and say, 'now the enemy is conquered.'...Women - mistresses of households, domestic servants - are the soldiers who are deputed by society to engage in this war against dirt."

The war against dirt wasn't just for reasons of hygiene but also carried the banner of status. The status symbol moved from the act of possessing objects, as it was easier to own more with the rise of the mass production of products, to the expensive and time-consuming obsession with keeping clean. In addition to her physical duty, it became the housewives' moral imperative to keep a respectable house. A house many not be any cleaner than it was before, but the air of respectability indicated that it was a decent household. And a clean house was a moral house and thus reflected the clean and moral people who lived within.

Source: Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England, Judith Flanders

The House of Gingerbread

With the holiday season comes the practice for some of creating a gingerbread house, an architectural feat that can be as amazing to view as it would be to eat the goodies that are used as construction materials.

The Sugar Castle, a gingerbread house, at the Westin St. Francis hotel in San Francisco

Germany has a long and strong tradition of creating flat and shaped gingerbreads. The strong and flat gingerbread, Lebkuchen, are used to make gingerbread houses - also called Hexenhaeusle, which means "witches' houses," from the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, or Lebkuchenhaeusel and Knusperhaeuschen, which means "houses for nibbling at".

Nuremberg,  the "gingerbread capital" of the world, hosted Christkindlmarkt in December,  a fair where Christmas decorations and seasonal foods were purchased. Gingerbread was not baked in homes but by a special guild of master bakers known as the Lebkuchler. Gingerbread bakers collaborated with sculptors, painters, and woodcarvers to create intricately designed and beautifully decorated gingerbread cakes.  With these partnerships, it is easy to imagine how gingerbread houses were soon created.


During the nineteenth century, gingerbread was both modernised and romanticised. The practice of making gingerbread houses was brought by German immigrants to America where the practice grew and resulted in extraordinary creations. Elaborate Victorian houses and tiny one-room cottages were heavily decorated with candies and sugary creations and thus the tradition took off. 


For inspiration in designing your own gingerbread house, here is more information on the Sugar Castle pictured above by chef Jean-Francois Houdre.


Source: Gingerbread House

Victoria's Namesake

To continue with the Victorian theme that TAJ has taken lately...

I recently traveled to Victoria, British Columbia and was amazed by how devoted this city was to Queen Victoria and nineteenth-century Britain. In many ways, I felt more like I was visiting Great Britain than British Columbia. Though in a Commonwealth country and almost on the other side of the world from Britain, I was struck by how this city has retained a British sensibility. 

Founded in 1843, during Queen Victoria's reign, Victoria became the capital of British Columbia, Canada in 1866 when Vancouver Island united with the mainland. A statue of Queen  Victoria stands in front of the Provincial Legislature Building, called "Parliament."

Statue of Queen Victoria in front of Parliament at night. (RS)

Scottish and English colonists ventured far from their homeland, bringing with them not just their hopes and dreams for a new life in a new world, but also their British customs and a domesticating Old World awareness to this new corner of the Empire.  

When Vancouver across the Salish Sea began to draw business away from Victoria in the 1920s, British patriotism and customs could have followed, which would have resulted a very different Victoria than what I saw. Instead, an American by the name of George Warren, in the Victoria Publicity Bureau, devised a marketing campaign to publicize Victoria using the theme of "Olde England" to sell Victoria as more akin to the Old World. 

While Vancouver leveled its downtown to make room for a modern city-scape, Victoria preserved its heritage buildings and added gardens and city parks. This urban plan to nurture the city as it was enabled a lively, walkable historic city center to be maintained.

Though modern buildings were to be erected:
 

View of Victoria (RS)

downtown Victoria to this day has more of a European feel than a North American. The walking pace in downtown is comfortable and many streets are pedestrian only. And most importantly, the gorgeous architecture reminds you of Grand Victorian England:

The Empress Hotel and harbor at night (RS)

Just as enjoyable as walking the city and viewing its beauty is another British custom that has been preserved - High-Tea. Considered a delicacy, it is offered in many locations for the weary tourist to indulge in.  And indulge I did.

Sources:
Wikipedia: Victoria, British Columbia - http://bit.ly/1cytDg

Tour of Deathly Repose: Part 2

As a follow up to my first blog post on death, regarding Highgate Cemetary in London, I'd like to take a step back and think about death through the Victorian frame of mind. The Victorians "reveled in the trappings of death," as A.N. Wilson eloquently describes in his book, The Victorians, which was best demonstrated by funerals and the habits of mourning.

Funerals were elaborate ceremonies whether they were for a head of state, a doctor, or a local businessman. Wilson paints a vivid description of a typical funeral: 

The hearse would be a glass coach groaning with flowers, but smothered in sable and crepe. Four or six horses nodding with black plumes would lead the cortege, preceded by paid mutes who, swathed in black shawls and with drapes over their tall silk hats...Behind the coffin in their carriages would follow the mourners, in new-bought black clothes, bombazine and crepe and tall silk hats and black gloves and bonnets.

An article published in Harper's Bazaar in April 1886 on "Mourning and Funeral Usages," described the rules, as it were, and answered many a pertinent question pertaining to the "correct" manner in which one was to go about their mourning habits. Funereal etiquette was to be strictly adhered to as funerals became a social status symbol and tribute to how far a family had climbed in the class-system. Rules were followed as to how to dress a house for mourning, the number of pall-bearers to have and who should be one, the fashion of mourning clothing, and the length of time in which to be in mourning. 

There were variations to these mourning practices depending on who had died: Widows should mourn for about eighteen months; a parent should be mourned for a year; a sibling also for a year; and a child for 9 months. And as to what one should wear when in mourning: 

For the first six months the dress should be of crape cloth, or Henrietta cloth covered entirely with crape, collar and cuffs of white crape, a crape bonnet with a long crape veil, and a widow's cap of white crape if preferred.... After six months' mourning the crape can be removed, and grenadine, copeau fringe, and dead trimmings used, if the smell of crape is offensive, as it is to some people. After twelve months the widow's cap is left off, and the heavy veil is exchanged for a lighter one, and the dress can be of silk grenadine, plain black gros grain, or crape-trimmed cashmere with jet trimmings, and crepe lisse about the neck and sleeves.

As can be gathered from the length of this article and popularity of the magazine, it was important for Victorians to have a guide to follow in all manner of funereal topics to ensure that what was done was done so properly.

What is interesting is the purpose behind establishing uniformity and a mantle of etiquette around funerals and mourning, as if to manage the emotional experience of death into a systematic process of "dos" and "don'ts." Perhaps the need for conformity was to help cope with the death of a loved one? Perhaps it truly was to set a norm for what is to be done in the midst of chaos when a tragedy occurs? If we closely examine how these customs reflect Victorian society and culture, what does it say about the people who practiced them? And what about ourselves as the descendants of this culture and these funereal practices? ...Weighty questions to ponder and return to at another time...

Sources:

A.N. Wilson, The Victorians

"The House in Mourning" from Victoriana Magazine - http://www.victoriana.com/VictorianPeriod/mourning.htm

"Mourning and Funeral Usages," Harper's Bazaar: April 17, 1886; via Victoriana Magazine - http://www.victoriana.com/library/harpers/funeral.html

Tour of Deathly Repose: Part 1

Some may think it morbid, but I find cemeteries peaceful, picturesque, and inspiring. Rolling hills of soft grassy knolls dotted with historical reminders of those who came before. Some of these markers display recognizable names of people who have achieved greatness and who are remembered. And some with names of the every day wives, husbands, and children who have lived and gone. Their existence left for us by the etched cement above their graves.

A statue of a sleeping angel in Highgate Cemetery

Photographer: John Gay (Source: English Heritage: National Monuments Records)

A particularly famous memorial site is Highgate Cemetery in London, which is a registered park and garden of specific historic interest by English Heritage. Parliament passed an act creating new private cemeteries, Highgate Cemetery being one which opened in 1839. Previously, people were buried in churchyards or on church-owned burial grounds. It was the custom to pay the parish clergy a funeral fee, which would have been paid had the burial occurred on consecrated ground. However, there just was not any additional room available in the old burial grounds and therefore these new cemeteries were able to provide interment for those who owed no loyalty to the established Church.

A large gravestone for the family grave of William Tait with the gravestone of Henry Nathaniel Belchier (d. 1850) in the foreground.

Photographer: John Gay (Source: English Heritage: National Monuments Records)

Seventeen acres of land that had been the grounds of Ashurst Estate, down the hillside from Highgate Village, was purchased for the founding of Highgate Cemetery. When the cemetery was dedicated in 1839, 15 acres were consecrated for use by the Church of England and 2 acres for "Dissenters". By 1854, the cemetery was extended by an additional 20 acres on the other side of its Swains Lane site. This new ground, named the East Cemetery, opened in 1856 and was accessible from the now West Cemetery by a tunnel beneath Swains Lane.

An anchor carved into the rustic pedestal of the Johnson family grave in the East Cemetery

Photographer: John Gay (Source: English Heritage: National Monuments Records)

Highgate Cemetery became a popular cemetery and one of London's most fashionable as it attracted a variety of residents. Among the actors, writers, scientists, and a swarth of everyday Victorians, some of the famous people interred in Highgate Cemetery include Karl Marx, Michael Faraday, George Eliot, Christina Rossetti, and the model for many pre-Raphelite artists Elizabeth Siddal.



The double paneled and arcade shaped gravestone of the Cassels family in the West Cemetery, seen through a gap between two gravestones in the foreground

Photographer: John Gay (Source: English Heritage: National Monuments Records)

Though a memento mori to the passing of time and our mortality, large cemeteries such as Highgate Cemetery, are architectural tributes, as any cathedral or temple, to our history and our ancestors. Perhaps in addition to being a reminder of death, they can also be a reminder to live and "gather ye rosebuds while ye may."

The moss covered sculpture of an open book on a tomb carved with trefoil arches in the West Cemetery

Photographer: John Gay (Source: English Heritage: National Monuments Records)

Sources:

Highgate Cemetery Website - http://www.highgate-cemetery.org/

The Victorians by A.N. Wilson

English Heritage Website - http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/

English Heritage: National Monuments Records Website - http://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk/default.aspx