Burghley House

Burghley House is an English country castle from the late 16th century in the English Unitary Authority City of Peterborough, near Stamford in Lincolnshire. It is considered one of the most outstanding examples of the architecture of the late Elizabethan era and has since then served as a family residence.

Architecture

Facades

A peculiarity among the English castles and country estates are the richly decorated facades. Apart from the exterior facades is the facade of the center pavilion in the courtyard of the history of art of particular importance. The executive architect made ​​use of various elements for the design: In the lower and first floor he took the design an element of French architecture, the triumphal arch motif called. In the second above the bay window is again classic English architecture. The decorations around the clock on the top floor and the other frills work, however, emanate from the Flemish models. The facade is framed on both sides of hochgesockelten pairs of columns to niches in the classical canon, so Doric below, about ionic and Corinthian above.

Building

Burghley House is built of bright blocks, four-wing building, enclosing a rectangular courtyard. There are farm buildings, grouped around two courtyards more to its northeastern corner. Its roofs are decorated with many decorative elements such as towers, lanterns, archways and columns. Even the fireplaces are architecturally decorated. It is the time of the Tudor style, and the first Renaissance influences are evident well. Inside more than 115 rooms can be counted.

The castle chapel is from Italy and originally belonged to a church at Murano near Venice. It was there, removed stone by stone and rebuilt in England again.

To visit the interior of the castle one of the largest private collections of Italian art, Chinese porcelain, tapestries and furniture from the 18th century and the first inventoried collection of Japanese ceramics in the West, by John Cecil, 5th Earl of Exeter, and his wife, Lady Anne Cavendish, were collected in the 1680s and 1690s. Many of the apartments offer beautiful stucco work or great ceiling paintings by, among others, Antonio Verrio and his pupil Louis Laguerre. The large kitchen with its fan vaulting and rich furnishing of copper utensils in one of the oldest surviving rooms.

Garden and parks

In the early days of Burghley House, the garden was still relatively small. Beginning of the 18th century laid the garden architect George London decorative fish ponds, terraces, canals and a maze.

A few decades later gave way to the majority of these garden detail than the famous English landscape gardener Capability Brown from 1756 the 100 -acre park in the English landscape style remodeled, where he was based on already existing, some very old plants. He wrote also the 7 acre lake and the Lion Bridge.

Since the 16th century there lived a herd of fallow deer. In addition, the Burghley Horse Trails find AUEM castle grounds since 1961 an annual event.

History

Burghley House was built in the years 1555 to 1587 by William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, treasurer of Queen Elizabeth I. In honor of the Queen, the building had an E- shaped plan. The land was previously William's father, a member of staff at the court of Henry VIII and Edward IV, has been left by the royal family after the monastery of Peterborough is located there had been dissolved in 1536. Most likely acted Sir William Cecil himself as an architect, but had a stonemason named Henryk from Antwerp to the side, who advised him both in the designs as well as in the execution. During the 32- year construction period, William Cecil, however, was rarely present, and also later, he never lived in the house for a long time, since he was usually in London at court. The property was the ancestral home of the Cecil that the title of Earl of Exeter and 1801 to a Marquess of Exeter were awarded in 1605.

In the 17th century the west wing of the castle of John Cecil, 5th Earl of Exeter, has been restyled, among other things, the immense collection could be housed in art treasures, which he and his wife, Lady Anne Cavendish, on several long trips through France and Italy bought. Here in the south wing of the existing open loggias on the ground floor were converted into closed rooms and many rooms furnished for the first time. Many Baroque painting and ceiling paintings were at that stage, as were for example the following designed by the Italian painter Antonio Verrio: the Heaven Room with the images of the ancient gods - his most important masterpiece - and the subsequent Bright Staircase with the representation of the Grim Reaper and the gaping mouth of a big cat, in which the souls are tormented - his last work for Burghley House.

When John Cecil died in 1700, the renovation work had not been completed, and then came to a halt. Only Brownlow Cecil, 9th Earl of Exeter was to continue the work, in creating the present landscape park. Among other things, the 36,000 -square-foot castle pond was enlarged to a 105,000 -square-meter lake that looks like a meandering river. Capability Brown adopted not only on the design of the park influence, but also on the building. On his advice towards Brownlow Cecil had put down the former West Wing to have a better view of the new park. In addition, the south facade were increased and the architectural decorative elements arranged so that a symmetry of the stringent building is reached. Finally, the State Apartments were ( the George Rooms) equipped and furnished at this time.

Burghley House is now owned by a company founded by the Cecil Family Foundation for the Preservation of the plant, and it belongs to the consortium Treasure Houses of England.

Filming

The castle was already frequently as a backdrop for film productions. In Pride and Prejudice, an adaptation of the novel by Jane Austen in 2005, Burghley House was used as a lock of Lady Catherine De Bourgh Rosings, while the Great Hall of the castle in the film The Da Vinci Code - The Da Vinci Code for the scenes in the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo were used.

Horse riding

Since 1961, are held every year on the grounds of Burghley House Burghley Horse Trials the. This event is one of the six highest graded competitions in eventing.