silver girl

My trip to Stirling Castle. Or should I say Disney World.

Overpriced; Too Many Americans; Artificial.

The more I reflect on my day at Stirling, the more upset I am about how the site has been restored. The Palace Project began in 1991, with the aim to provide an interactive experience to "enhance the castle as a visitor attraction." It's this "attraction" bit that bothers me--that's how we should describe amusement parks and novelties, not the most important castle in Scottish history.

The drastic restoration of the Great Hall was completed in 1999, and left the building with an unconvincing gold-tinted lime wash that makes it stick out like a sore thumb. Thank goodness they didn't cover any of the other buildings in this.

The Great Hall.

And the newly-redone royal apartments were completed this June, with the cost of a whopping £12 million. The rooms of James V and Marie de Guise have been entirely redecorated, painted, and partially furnished, with the goal of showing the public how they "might have appeared" in the sixteenth century. This is an expensive slippery slope, because there is very little documentation and no contemporary images of what the rooms actually looked like. So what they've done is just based on research of other contemporary palaces.

"The Queen's Bedchamber."

Take the tapestry project. A twelve-year project, costing hundreds of thousands of pounds, is due to be completed in 2013. It involves weaving a set of copies of the seven Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries (the originals are in the Met Cloisters in New York), to be hung in the restored royal apartments. The justification for this is that "we know that James V had two sets of tapestries featuring unicorns." But we also know that the Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries were never owned by James V. So what is the point? All this money and hours of labour for a set of imitation tapestries that never would have hung at Stirling in the first place. I just don't get it.

Tapestry Project.

Another thing that really bothers me is that several of the scholars whose "research" contributed to the reconstruction of the royal apartments are actually specialists in Gothic Revival. And it shows. The restoration looks garish, gaudy, and unconvincing. The interior of the palace has totally lost its authenticity. And with it, it's lost its sense of royal awe and grandeur. Which is not helped by allowing tourists to take pictures sitting on thrones in the Great Hall.

NOT OKAY.

I do understand the motivations behind this. The average visitor is probably not aware that Renaissance palaces were bright, colourful, and over-the-top. If they had redone one or two of the rooms, okay, but they've done them all. Nothing was left as is, except for one small corridor. In an age of digital reconstruction technology, this level of intervention (which is almost entirely speculative), and the amount of money it cost, is ridiculous. But I guess if the visitor figures increase, that's all that matters. Quel shame.

Good lord.

I left wishing I could have seen the castle before all these restorations. Not happy about the thirteen pounds I shelled out for this, Historic Scotland. But enough of my complaining. I think I've found my next essay topic for Heritage Management.

I'll let you judge for yourselves (and keep in mind that my photoshopping makes it look better than it actually is):

Once was a magical place/


Over time it was lost.


Price increased the cost.


Disillusioned as they enter/


They're unaware what's behind castle walls.


Now the fortune of the kingdom/


Is locked up in its dungeon vaults.


Have they lost their heads?

Or are they just all blind mice?


We've heard all their stories one too many times.


Seriously, Disney.


Welcome to the Tragic Kingdom.
Cornfields of popcorn have yet to spring open.


Entering the yellow Great Hall, trop du monde.


But now it's written in stone.


The king has been overthrown.


By jesterly fools.


And the power of the people/


Shall come to believe they do rule.


Back to the inner courtyard and the chapel.


Also heavily restored.


The infant James V was crowned here after the
death of his father at the Battle of Flodden Field.


Trompe l'oeil.


And now for the royal palace and its apartments.


Thankfully they didn't lime-wash this building.


High up on one of the corners is this whimsical
little statue of James V.


And entering the royal apartments; King's Outer Hall.


The castle floor lies in traps/


With coiled wires set back, decoyed by old cheese.


King's Inner Hall.


I think the over-the-fireplace paintings are just the worst.


But what's that on the ceiling?


The famous Stirling Heads, reconstructed.


Depicted are James V and members of his family
and court, along with allegorical and historical figures.


James V.


To his left, his new (second) bride, Marie de Guise, in wedding attire.


And to his right, in the place of honour, is most likely
his first wife, the then-deceased Madeleine de Valois.
The cherub at her chest probably represents her soul in heaven.


His mother Margaret Tudor, holding a Tudor greyhound.


And his uncle/rival, my man Henry VIII,
the only head to directly face the viewer;
this probably means that the original was based
on the famous Holbein portraits.


Some of the sixteenth-century originals survive
and are on display in a gallery; they were removed
from the palace ceiling in 1777.


Original James V.


Back to the apartments; King's Bedchamber.


I think this was my least favourite room.


The parade that's electrical it serves no real purpose/


Just takes up a lot of juice, just to impress us.


Now on to Marie de Guise's apartments.
{Portrait by Corneille de Lyon, ca. 1537,
National Galleries of Scotland}


Her bedchamber is the most Disney of all.


And not based on any proof, ugh.


She had the Midas touch, she was Lady Luck.


She's got a million bucks, and she looks like it.


I did like the sg, it was based on roundels
still in situ in locations associated with the
Dukes of Guise, in Lorraine.


Moving on to the Queen's Inner Hall.


I think I liked this room best, because it was least gaudy.


She was a silver girl.


Sometimes she was just an actress.


But you'll never really know.


Shadows move across her face.


You cannot see her soul.


Unless she lets you.


Queen's Outer Hall.


Seriously these are the most tacky, hideous paintings.
I'm sorry, but Marie de Guise wouldn't have allowed that.
She was French, after all.


Another grievance: actors portraying royalty.
GO TO DISNEY WORLD, PEOPLE!


Somewhere in France, Marie de Guise is rolling in her grave.


Back outside; the views are nice.


In the shadow of the castle walls (wherever those walls were).


Heading to the kitchens.

Also upsetting: kitchen ghosts.

They pay homage to a king whose dreams
are buried in their minds.
xx