Holyrood Palace

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Holyrood Palace as seen from Arthur's Seat
Entrance facade

Holyrood Palace or Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh is the official residence of the British Queen in Scotland . The palace is at the east end of the Royal Mile , which leads up to Edinburgh Castle . At the castle , the closing Holyrood Park to. The plant is since 14 December 1970 as Listed Building category A under monument protection .

Originally a guesthouse of the Abbey Holyrood Abbey built, the building was under James IV. Of Scotland large from 1501 by a palace with tower, hall , chapel and gatehouse replaced. After Jacob VI. of Scotland when James I ascended the English throne, the entire court moved from Edinburgh to London , and Holyrood Palace was long idle. On the occasion of the coronation of Charles I of England in Holyrood, the palace and abbey were renovated , but it was his son Charles II who essentially gave the palace its present-day appearance. In the period from 1671 to 1679, a four-wing complex was built according to plans by the architect William Bruce , in which the existing building fabric was incorporated. A south-west tower was added to the new building in the 19th century in order to give the entrance facade a symmetrical appearance. The complex, which has been the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland since the 1920s, was modernized under George V. At least once a year, Queen keeps Elizabeth II. Week Holyrood during the so-called ( English Holyrood week ) at Holyrood Palace on.

history

12th to 15th centuries

The Abbey Holyrood Abbey, which is located on the site of today's palace, was founded in 1128 by order of King David I founded. As a royal founding and located near Edinburgh Castle, it became an important administrative center. A papal legate arrived there in 1177, while a council of nobles met in 1189 to discuss a ransom for the captured King William the Lion (ruled as King of Scotland from 1165 to 1214). The Parliament of Scotland met more frequently in the abbey between 1256 and 1410, and it was likely to be a royal residence by 1329. In 1370, David II, the first of several Scottish kings, was buried at Holyrood. James II. ( English James II ) was born in Holyrood in 1430, was crowned, he married here and was buried here as well. Jacob III ( English James III ) and Margaret of Denmark married in Holyrood in 1469. The first royal residence was in the guest house of the abbey, on the site of today's northern area of ​​the palace. In the later 15th century there were already royal apartments.

16th Century

Between 1501 and 1505 a new Gothic palace was built next to the abbey under Jacob IV . The impetus for the construction probably came from Jacob's wife Margaret Tudor . The designs for it were probably made by John Ayton. The palace was built west of the abbey as a three-wing complex in the shape of a horseshoe. It included a chapel , gallery , royal apartments and a large hall. The chapel was in the north of the square, the queen's apartments in the south.

The west area contained the king's rooms and the entrance to the palace. Jacob IV supervised the construction of a two-story gatehouse , remains of which are still preserved today. In 1512 a lion house was built for the royal menagerie , in which exotic animals were kept. Jacob V added additions between 1528 and 1536, initially the still-preserved northwest tower to make room for new royal apartments. The south and west areas were rebuilt in the Renaissance style, with a new chapel in the south. The former chapel in the northern area was converted into a council hall where ceremonial events were held. The west area contained the royal library and the royal apartments.

In 1544 during the War called Rough Wooing , Edinburgh and Holyrood were looted and burned to the ground. It was rebuilt, but the altars were destroyed during the Reformation in 1559. After the Scottish Reformation, the abbey buildings were neglected, and the choir and transept of the abbey church were demolished in 1570.

The royal apartments in the north-west tower of the palace were inhabited by Mary Queen of Scots from her return to Scotland in 1561 until her forced abdication in 1567. Talks between the Queen and John Knox took place at Holyrood . There she married her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and in 1567 James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell , in the chapel on July 29, 1565 . The marriage to Darnley was not without controversy, not least because the Scottish nobility would have preferred a Protestant husband. On March 9, 1566, in her private apartments, the Queen witnessed the murder of David Rizzio , her private secretary, who, because of his Catholic faith, was also exposed to the distrust of the nobility. Through a political intrigue, Mary's husband, Lord Darnley, was convinced that Rizzio was the queen's lover. With his help, some of the nobles penetrated the queen's rooms via the private staircase that connected Maria's rooms with the private rooms of Darnley and murdered Rizzio with 56 stab wounds.

During the subsequent revolt against the Queen, William Kirkcaldy of Grange , on July 25, 1571, shelled the palace with cannons. Jacob VI moved to Holyrood in 1579 at the age of 13. His wife Anna of Denmark was crowned in the monastery church in 1590 . Around 600 people belonged to the court in the palace at that time.

17th century

Bird's-eye view of Holyrood Palace, view by James Gordon, 1647

When the Scottish King also became King of England as James I in 1603 and moved to London, the palace was no longer a royal residence. The chapel was renovated for his visit in 1617. Further repairs were made in preparation for the coronation of Charles I as King of Scotland at Holyrood in 1633.

In September 1650, the eastern section of the complex burned down during the occupation of Holyrood by Oliver Cromwell's soldiers . After that, the eastern parts of the palace were abandoned. The remaining areas were used as barracks and in 1659 a two-story wing was added to the west.

In 1660, the monarchy was restored when Parliament granted Charles II royal dignity to England and Scotland. The Privy Council was reinstated and met in Holyrood. Repairs have begun to enable the Earl of Lauderdale , the Secretary of State for Scotland , to use the building . In 1670 £ 30,000 was allocated by the Privy Council for the rebuilding of Holyrood Palace.

Holyrood Palace 1649

Plans for a thorough renovation were drawn up by the architect Sir William Bruce. The design provided for a southwest tower next to the existing tower. The interiors were redesigned, rooms were created for the queen on the west side and for the king in the south and east. The two areas were connected by a gallery in the north wing and a council chamber was set up in the south-west tower. Work began in July 1671, starting from the northwest side. In 1675 Lord Hatton was the first of many nobles to move into an apartment in the palace. In the following year the decision was made to change the west area of ​​the palace and to add a kitchen block in the south-east of the square. The commissioning of William Bruce with the reconstruction ended in the year 1678. Lord Hatton was entrusted with the rest of the work. In 1679 the work was completed.

The interior work was still in progress when Jacob , Duke of Albany, later King James II of England and James VII of Scotland, and his wife Maria Beatrice d'Este visited the palace. They lived there between 1680 and 1682 at a time when the popularity of Jacob in England had suffered severely due to the so-called Exclusion crisis . When he ascended the throne in 1685, the Catholic king established a Jesuit college in the south wing of the palace. This was destroyed by an anti-Catholic mob after the start of the Glorious Revolution in late 1688, which led to the ousting of the king.

18th century

After the Act of Union 1707 between Scotland and England, the castle lost its primary function, but was still used for the elections of the Scottish representatives in the English Parliament. The numerous nobles who had been granted a right of residence on the upper floor of the palace could continue to use it. The Duke of Hamilton had already moved into the Queen's rooms in the old tower in 1684. The king's suite has since been neglected. In 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie , the grandson of the deposed Jacob II, moved into the palace for six weeks while he was trying to restore it. After he had moved on towards England and was defeated there, soldiers who supported George II devastated the state apartments and slashed the pictures of the Scottish kings in the Great Gallery.

The gatehouse, built under James IV, drawing by Thomas Sandby, 1746

The roof of the abbey church collapsed in 1768 and was never rebuilt. The abbey still exists today as a ruin. The potential of the palace as a tourist attraction was already recognized by the Duke of Hamilton. He allowed paying guests to visit Maria Stuart's rooms in the north-west tower.

The district of Holyrood Abbey has been a haven for debtors since the 16th century. These were able to avoid their believers and imprisonment by settling within the abbey grounds. From this a small community grew to the west of the palace. The residents, colloquially known as Abbey Lairds , were allowed to leave the district on Sunday as no arrests were allowed on that day. The area was guarded by several constables , the Keepers of Holyroodhouse . Today the constables are on a ceremonial watch in the palace.

Holyrood Palace and Abbey 1789

19th century

After the French Revolution , King George III. the youngest brother of Louis XVI who went into exile . , Charles Philippe de Bourbon, Count of Artois, from 1796 to 1803 at Holyrood Palace, where he hid from his creditors. During this time the king's apartments were renovated. The Count of Artois ascended the French throne as Charles X in 1824 , but returned to Holyrood after the July Revolution of 1830 as the head of the deposed older Bourbon line with family and followers, before Emperor Franz I of Austria gave the expellees his hospitality and an asylum in 1832 offered at Prague Castle .

King George IV was the first reigning monarch since Charles I to visit Holyrood Palace during his visit to Scotland in 1822. Although he was staying at Dalkeith House , the king gave a reception in Holyrood. He was shown the historic apartments. He ordered repairs to the palace, but with the restriction that the rooms of Maria Stuart should remain unchanged in the future. For the next ten years, Robert Reid led the renovation work, including the demolition of all buildings in the north and south of the building square. 1834 under King William IV. Agreed that the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland , the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland could be held in the palace. This tradition continues to this day.

When Queen Victoria first visited Scotland in 1842, she also stayed at Dalkeith House. An outbreak of scarlet fever prevented a visit to Holyrood Palace. After various renovations in the years that followed, Victoria set up an apartment on the second floor in 1871. The former royal apartments have been converted into a dining room, salons and a throne room . In 1854 the historic apartments in the north-west tower were opened to the public.

20th and 21st centuries

Although King Edward VII visited Holyrood Palace in 1903, it was left to his successor George V to adapt the palace to the requirements of the 20th century. Central heating and electric lights were installed before his first visit in 1911, and bathrooms and kitchens were modernized after the First World War . In the 1920s, the palace became the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland and the site for regular royal ceremonies and events.

Queen Elizabeth II regularly spends a week at Holyrood Palace in the summer. During this time inaugurations of public figures take place in the gallery and audiences are held and garden parties are held. The Scottish version of the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom flag is hoisted during the royal stay and the Royal Standard of Scotland flag at all other times . The Royal Company of Archers forms the ceremonial bodyguard on the Queen's visits . Shortly after the monarch's arrival, the Lord Provost symbolically offered the Queen the keys to the city of Edinburgh in the forecourt of the palace . The monarch rejects the acceptance with the following words: "I am returning these keys in the conviction that they are not in better hands than those of the Lord Provost and the council of my good city Edinburgh." The Queen meets in the palace the First Minister of Scotland . Prince Charles also stays at Holyrood Palace for one week a year. He performs his official duties as Duke of Rothesay while other members of the royal family visit Holyrood Palace in a less official capacity.

In its role as the official residence of the monarch in Scotland Holyrood Palace was attended by a number of foreign guests and dignitaries, including King Harald V of Norway in 1994, Queen Margrethe II. Of Denmark , François Mitterrand , Helmut Kohl , Nelson Mandela and Vladimir Putin in 2003. In 1992 the Council of Europe met in the Palace during the UK Presidency.

On September 16, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI. guest in the palace. It was the first state visit by a Pope to Great Britain. This meeting took place in Scotland because the Queen there - unlike in England - is not the head of the Anglican national church. Your position as head of the Church of England is not recognized by the Holy See . The title of the English kings Defender of the Faith ( Latin Fidei defensor ), which is still used today, does not go back to the papal award of 1521, but to a decision of the parliament of 1544. The title thus refers to the defense of the Anglican Catholic reform and has an anti-Roman aspect.

Holyrood Palace is owned by the Crown. As the official royal residence in Scotland, the Scottish Government is responsible for their maintenance. This is ensured by the Conservation Directorate of Historic Scotland . The Royal Collection Trust has been entrusted with public access . The proceeds will be used to support their work as the guardian of the royal collection.

description

architecture

Floor plan of the first floor

Holyrood Palace is a closed four-wing complex with a square floor plan of around 70 × 70 meters. The oldest part is the north-west tower, which was started under Jacob IV and completed in 1532 under his successor Jacob V. Its counterpart on the southwest corner of the Schlossgeviert is much younger and was not built in its current form until between 1824 and 1834 according to plans by Robert Reid, who wanted to make the palace symmetrical. Both towers have small round corner towers and a crenellated wreath . With the exception of the west wing, the remaining parts of the complex were essentially given their appearance in the period from 1671 to 1678 based on designs by William Bruce, so that Holyrood Palace is a combination of Renaissance and Baroque architecture . The two-storey west wing with final balusters - parapet was in Cromwell'scher time, but was completely remodeled later under Charles II.. In its center is the main portal , which is flanked on both sides by coupled Doric columns with the royal Scottish coat of arms. The portal is crowned by an octagonal, lantern-like attachment, the outside of which has a dial. A crown forms the end. After passing through the entrance, the visitor stands in the inner courtyard of the palace. The three-storey courtyard facades of the north, south and east wings are vertically structured by pilasters and follow the typical superposition of classical column orders : on the ground floor with its open gallery there are Doric pilasters, followed by Ionic pilasters on the first and Corinthian ones on the second floor. The east wing opposite the western entrance wing has a three-axis central risalit on the courtyard side , which is closed off by a triangular gable . The monastery church of Holyrood Abbey joins the castle on the northeast corner.

To the west of the main building is a forecourt with a fountain in the middle. This is a copy of the fountain in the courtyard of Linlithgow Palace and was installed there in 1861 on the initiative of Queen Victoria in place of a statue. The top of the fountain consists of a crown on which a ball rests. The Scottish lion stands on this. The crown is carried by stone figures depicting soldiers of the royal bodyguard. These include personalities from Scottish and English history, for example Maria Stuart, David Rizzio, Elizabeth I and Oliver Cromwell. Three wrought-iron gates on the north, south and west sides provide access to the palace square . They date from the beginning of the 1920s and show bronze figures of St. Andrew . The Scottish crown sits enthroned on the door frames. The gates in the north and south have high, square gateposts on which lions and unicorns sit. There are also smaller hiding places for pedestrians.

To the west of the square is an ensemble of buildings, consisting of the guard house from the 19th century, the adjoining former Holyrood Free Church and a school building from the 1840s. Today they are home to the Queen's Gallery , which shows exhibits from the Royal Collection .

  • Lattice gate

  • Fountain

  • Main portal

  • patio

inside rooms

Some of the interiors can be viewed when the royal family is not in the castle. These include the historical royal apartments ( English Historical apartments ) in the Renaissance north-west tower from the 16th century and today's state apartments from the 17th century.

The king's historic apartments are on the first floor. They were established for Lord Darnley in the 17th century, but were used by the Queen in later centuries. The chambers consist of an anteroom or audience room ( English outer chamber ), bedroom ( English inner chamber ) as well as south and north cabinets in the corner turrets. It is now furnished with baroque furniture and Flemish tapestries . A four-poster bed can be seen in the king's bedroom , which has probably been a fixture since 1672. In 1976 it was restored . A narrow spiral staircase in the thick wall connects the king's bedroom with the queen's bedroom on the floor above. The Queen's apartments have the same layout. Despite later redesigns under Charles II, the queen's bedroom still has its original oak coffered ceiling from the 16th century. It shows the initials of Maria Stuart's parents MR (Maria Regina) and IR (Jacobus Rex). On the wall there is a wide frieze made of grisaille paintings , which was attached there in 1617. The bed in the room was mentioned in an inventory from 1684. The Queen's adjacent anteroom is at the top of a steep spiral staircase. A brass plate near the floor commemorates the murder of Maria Stuart's private secretary David Rizzio. There is a small niche in the east wall that was previously used as an oratory . The oak ceiling shows a St. Andrew's cross surrounded by a royal crown. Various exhibits related to the life of Maria Stuart are shown in the room, including some embroidery that the Queen made during her long imprisonment in England.

Dining room
gallery

The current state apartments are on the first floor. They occupy the entire floor, with the exception of the north-west tower, and consist of the former apartments of the king in the south and east wings as well as part of the former apartments of the queen in the west wing. The rooms were decorated and furnished according to Charles II's wishes, although the monarch never stayed in Holyrood Palace. All rooms have decorative stucco ceilings by master plasterers John Hubert and George Dunsterfield . The rooms can be reached via a large staircase in the southern part of the west wing. Flemish tapestries and paintings by Lattanzio Gambara hang on the walls of the stairwell . The latter are part of a fresco from around 1550 depicting scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses . They were purchased by Prince Albert in Brescia in 1856 . To the north of the stairs is the dining room with classicist furnishings from around 1800, when the Duke of Hamilton lived in this part of the castle. Previously it belonged to the Queen's apartments and was the hall for her guards. Restored in the 1920s, it is now used for smaller table parties. South of the stairs is the so-called west salon and takes up the entire south-west tower of the palace. All of the wood in this room, renovated in 1911, comes from a single oak tree from Yester . To the east of the large staircase is the throne room in the south wing, which was set up on the occasion of a visit by George IV in 1822. The heraldic symbols on the stucco ceiling were only attached there between 1856 and 1880. portraits of British monarchs hang on the walls. East of the throne room is the so-called evening Salon ( English Evening Drawing Room ), who once served as reception rooms and was renovated under Queen Victoria. The tapestries on its walls date from the 18th century and used to hang in Buckingham Palace . After the evening Salon follows enfilade the morning Salon ( English Morning drawing room ), a private formerly the king salon. The four tapestries on the walls show motifs from the story of Diana . They were made in the 17th century based on Toussaint Dubreuil's designs and bought for Holyrood Palace in 1671. The chairs in the room have covers that Scottish women made for Queen Mary in the 1920s . The splendid furnishings of the salon include a fireplace, the ledge and top of which are richly decorated with carvings . In the center of the essay hangs the allegorical painting Amor und Psyche by Jacob de Wet II. Today the room is used for private audiences of the Queen.

The King's rooms in the east wing are connected to the Queen's former apartments via the Great Gallery . Measuring 150 × 24  feet (45.7 × 7.3 meters), the gallery is 20 feet (6.1 meters) high and is the largest room in the entire castle. It is located on the courtyard side of the north wing and is also called the picture gallery because it contains 111 portraits of Scottish monarchs, which Jacob de Wet II painted for this room between 1684 and 1686. The Charles Edward Stuart Gallery served as a ballroom in the 18th century and is now used for large banquets .

Castle Park

Castle Park

Holyrood Palace is one of about ten acres (about four  hectares ) large castle park surrounded. It is part of the much larger Holyrood Park and was laid out in the 19th century at the behest of Prince Albert. When he and Victoria began using Holyrood, the older garden, which had been north of the palace, was completely overgrown. This had to give way to a new carriage drive and was replaced by a new, much larger English landscape garden on the north and south sides. In the northern part there is a sundial made by John Mylne in 1633 on the occasion of Charles I's coronation . Another relic from the past is a small garden house from the 16th century called Queen Mary's Bath .

Every year the palace gardens host a garden party for the British Queen, to which around 8,000 guests are invited. A mound in the park was discovered during an excavation in 2006 to be a former 17th-century heap of kitchen waste.

literature

  • Alan Bold: Holyroodhouse Castle. Pitkin Pictorials, London c. 1980, ISBN 0-85372-304-4 .
  • Deborah Clarke: The Palace of Holyroodhouse. Official Souvenir Guide. Scala Publishers, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-909741-13-3 .
  • John G. Dunbar: The Palace of Holyroodhouse during the first half of the sixteenth century. In: The Archaeological Journal. Vol. 120, No. 1, 1963, ISSN  2373-2288 , pp. 242-254 ( PDF; 1 MB ).
  • Cristina Gambaro, Giulia Gaida: Scotland - Castles and Palaces. Culture and landscape. Karl Müller, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-89893-075-0 , pp. 24-25.
  • David MacGibbon, Thomas Ross: The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland. Volume 4. David Douglas, Edinburgh 1892, pp. 130-138 ( digitized version ).
  • Collin McWilliam, John Gifford, David Walker: The Buildings of Scotland. Edinburgh. Penguin, London 1984, ISBN 0-14-071068-X , pp. 125-128.
  • Riveter O'Leary: Holyroodhouse. In: Hermann Boekhoff, Gerhard Joop, Fritz Winzer (eds.): Palaces, castles, residences. Centers of European History. Karl Müller, Erlangen 1986, pp. 354-367.
  • Peter Sager : Scotland. Architecture and landscape, history and literature. DuMont, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-7701-3550-4 , pp. 126-130.

Web links

Commons : Holyrood Palace  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  2. ^ A b c d C. McWilliam et al .: The Buildings of Scotland. Edinburgh. Penguin, London 1984, ISBN 0-14-071068-X , p. 125.
  3. ^ A b c D. Clarke: The Palace of Holyroodhouse. Official Souvenir Guide. 2010, p. 8.
  4. ^ JG Dunbar: The Palace of Holyroodhouse during the first half of the sixteenth century. 1963, p. 252.
  5. ^ A b c d e C. McWilliam et al .: The Buildings of Scotland. Edinburgh. Penguin, London 1984, ISBN 0-14-071068-X , p. 125.
  6. ^ D. Clarke: The Palace of Holyroodhouse. Official Souvenir Guide. 2010, p. 12.
  7. ^ D. Clarke: The Palace of Holyroodhouse. Official Souvenir Guide. 2010, p. 56.
  8. ^ A b c C. McWilliam et al .: The Buildings of Scotland. Edinburgh. Penguin, London 1984, ISBN 0-14-071068-X , p. 127.
  9. ^ D. Clarke: The Palace of Holyroodhouse. Official Souvenir Guide. 2010, p. 49.
  10. ^ D. Clarke: The Palace of Holyroodhouse. Official Souvenir Guide. 2010, pp. 19-20.
  11. ^ A b D. Clarke: The Palace of Holyroodhouse. Official Souvenir Guide. 2010, p. 20.
  12. ^ Bourbons in Conversations-Lexikon der Gegenwart , Vol. 4, F. Brockhaus, 1838 p 551ff online
  13. ^ C. McWilliam et al .: The Buildings of Scotland. Edinburgh. Penguin, London 1984, ISBN 0-14-071068-X , p. 128.
  14. ^ D. Clarke: The Palace of Holyroodhouse. Official Souvenir Guide. 2010, p. 26.
  15. ^ D. Clarke: The Palace of Holyroodhouse. Official Souvenir Guide. 2010, pp. 27–28.
  16. ^ D. Clarke: The Palace of Holyroodhouse. Official Souvenir Guide. 2010, p. 4.
  17. ^ D. Clarke: The Palace of Holyroodhouse. Official Souvenir Guide. 2010, p. 30.
  18. ^ Pope meets Queen Rheinischer Merkur, September 16, 2010, accessed on January 11, 2012.
  19. ^ Charles Mackie: The castles, palaces, and prisons of Mary of Scotland. London 1850, p. 142 ( digitized version ).
  20. ^ D. MacGibbon, Thomas Ross: The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland. Volume 4, 1892, pp. 135-138.
  21. ^ A. Bold: Castle Holyroodhouse. 1980, p. 32.
  22. ^ The National Scottish Memorial to King Edward II at Holyrood Palace. In: Country Life . Vol. 49, No. 1265, April 2, 1921, p. 405.
  23. ^ A. Bold: Castle Holyroodhouse. 1980, p. 20.
  24. ^ A. Bold: Castle Holyroodhouse. 1980, p. 25.
  25. ↑ a b c A. Bold: Castle Holyroodhouse. 1980, p. 19.
  26. ^ A. Bold: Castle Holyroodhouse. 1980, p. 4.
  27. ↑ a b Information about the interiors on the Royal Family website , accessed September 28, 2015.
  28. ↑ a b A. Bold: Castle Holyroodhouse. 1980, p. 8.
  29. ^ A. Bold: Castle Holyroodhouse. 1980, p. 14.
  30. ^ Charles Mackie: The castles, palaces, and prisons of Mary of Scotland. London 1850, p. 201 ( digitized version ).
  31. ↑ Information about the State Apartments on the Royal Collection Trust website , accessed September 28, 2015.
  32. ^ A. Bold: Castle Holyroodhouse. 1980, p. 22.
  33. ↑ a b c d e Information on the palace gardens on the Royal Collection Trust website , accessed on September 25, 2015.

Coordinates: 55 ° 57 ′ 9 ″  N , 3 ° 10 ′ 21 ″  W.