Facts About the Royal Pavilion, Brighton
Brighton is the largest seaside resort on the south coast of England, famous for it's pier, electric beach railway and The Lanes, a labyrinth of narrow alleyways and small shops.
Tourism came to Brighton with the advent of the railway in 1841, encouraging day trippers from England's capital, London.
Today the East Sussex resort attracts over eight million visitors a year, not just from London, but from every corner of the U.K and worldwide.
In 1997, along with the neighbouring coastal town of Hove, Brighton and Hove together, were granted city status, with Brighton's official title now being The City of Brighton and Hove.
The city has another official title to it's merit, that of the Gay Capital of the U.K, and it is here that the annual Gay Pride March is held every August, a colourful and vibrant extravaganza that attracts thousands of visitors to the city.
The city also attracts visitors to its annual London To Brighton vintage car rally, it's racecourse, lavish marina and the world famous Girls Public School, Roedean.
However, despite Brighton's bustling 524 m ( 1,719 ft ) long pier, it's beachfront railway, amazing Sealife World and atmospheric Lanes, Brighton's number one tourist attraction is in fact it's Royal Pavilion.
The Pavilion was built in the end of the 1700's in the Indo - Saracenic style for Prince George The Prince Regent ( future King George IV ), after being advised by his doctor to take more sea air for his gout.
This advice led to the Prince Regent's long and notorious association with the town of Brighton.
BRIGHTON
The building was originally a farmhouse that the Prince Regent rented for his sojourns to Brighton in order to take the sea air as prescribed by his doctor.
After several stays at the farmhouse, the Prince Regent undertook architect Henry Holland to completely revamp the building.
Of course the Prince's plans for modernisation were unlike any other that had been undertaken at that time.
The Prince wanted total opulence and grandeur all done in an oriental style, as well as a domed roof and stabling for 60 horses.
Between the years 1815 - 1820, the building was redesigned again, this time by famous architect John Nash - famous for building Trafalgar Square and St James Park in London - into the grander and even more opulent building that we know today.
The building's interior decoration and furniture and fittings were all of an Indian, Islamic or Chinese theme, with many items being specially commissioned and shipped to England, at great expense, on the orders of the Prince.
The Prince would host lavish and extravagant balls and dinner parties at the Royal Pavilion and it soon became one of the most sought after locations for Britain's early 19th century royals, gentry and high flyers of the day.
The Pavilion was also used by the Prince for discreet liasions with his long time companion Maria Fitzherbert, giving rise to rumours of the Pavilion being a hive of immorality that brought shame onto the fine town of Brighton, with locals referring to the pavilion as ' George's Pleasure Palace'.
Word of these rumours and the Prince Regent's lavish spending, were soon to became known countrywide, giving rise to strong anti - royal feelings against the monarchy by the general public.
Although the Prince Regent's father, King George III was still alive, Prince Regent was in fact performing all the King's royal appointments at this time, owing to his father's mental illness, which rendered King George III incapable of his royal duties.
THE BANQUETING HALL DESIGNED BY JOHN NASH
The Royal Pavilion remained a royal residence until 1850, when Queen Victoria, whom apparently disliked both Brighton and the Royal Pavilion, sold the building to the town of Brighton for £ 53,000.
The Pavilion's fixtures, fittings and furniture were all removed and housed at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace.
At that time the Pavilion was used as Assembly Rooms until the end of the Second World War, when local town planners began to restore the Pavilion back to how it was in the days of the Prince Regent. As well as undertaking a complete refit of the building, town planners also commissioned reproduction replicas of all the previous Indian, Islamic and Chinese furniture, fixtures and fittings.
Today the Royal Pavilion is a grade II listed building, housing a museum with over a million exhibits from around the world, a library of rare books, some dating back to the 13th century and exhibition halls staging local, national and international exhibits.
The Royal Pavilion also contains tea rooms, a gift shop and is surrounded by parkland and gardens.
The Royal Pavilion also known as The Brighton Pavilion is Brighton's most visited landmark, attracting over a million visitors every year.
An introdution to the Royal Pavilion / YouTube
FOR OPENING TIMES, ADMISSION FEES AND EXHIBITION DATES VISIT.
© D.B.Bellamy. June 2010.
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Images courtesy of wikimedia commons.
16 comments
I've read so much about the 'Royal Pavilion' especially in historical novels and always wondered what the fuss was about, now I know. Thanks for sharing.
Very nice. I havnt been for years, but I have some nice memories of the Pavillion and its gardens. Also Brighton has some great restaurants.
@ Michael, yes, it would be an old out of print book that would help here I think. I think Brighton Council want to keep the building a deep, dark secret to encourage people to visit, also it was a private commision rather than a state owned project, so that's probably why there is little about the actual build.
Hi Lisa, oh you must go to Brighton, I love it, even though it is a bit of a trek for me living in the north west.
Lovely article! I have never been to Brighton and didn't realise it had so much to offer. I had only ever read about the nudist beach!
Don't worry, it was great work. James Stevens Curl's book on Georgian Architecture might be useful. I have a book on the BP, but I bought it second hand so it might be hard to find.
@ Val, And here was I thinking our Moghul's Palace was little known outside of the U.K. Excellent. @ Michael, to be honest I only wished I could of written more, but there is not too much written about the actual build, all I could find out about the BP seems to be about George's life of debauchery and the shame it all ! hee hee.
A really brilliant article. I'm envious - I wish I'd written about this! The building is a great example, proving that Georgian architecture isn't just about sash windows and neo-classicism. Great discussion and images.
I loved this article. We sell postcards and I have quite a few 1900's postcards of this, it was great to read the article. Val
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Great stuff, glad I've been able to enlighten you.