[MR] Dover Castle restoration article

[Smith CTR Jeffrey C]

Hi there,

I agree that seeing the Tower is mandatory for visits to London.

During Crown Tournament at a castle near the Czech border, when I was still in Drachenwald, the rooms were equipped with bunk beds and wall lockers (the castle was used by various youth groups).  We inadvertently moved a wall locker out of the way and found beautiful, but somewhat faded, murals painted on all the walls in the room.  I suspect the wall lockers had been placed to preserve and protect them.

One of my favorites is Prunn -- a small time castle but by far my favorite.  Development stopped on it in 1604 and it relatively unchanged since -- even the furnishings are from that time and the murals in the guard room are spectacular.  I recommend it for anyone visiting the Regensburg area in central Bavaria.  Tours are in German but they have an English language read along.

Barcsi Janos

PS - Hungarian names 101:  Barcsi=from Barcs, Janos=John, so Lord Janos is preferrable  :)

-----Original Message-----
From: Garth G. Groff [mailto:ggg9y at virginia.edu] 
Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 9:20
To: Smith CTR Jeffrey C
Subject: Re: [MR] Dover Castle restoration article

Lord Barcsi and friends,

Yes, few remaining castles look like they actually did in the middle ages. Many, especially the great royal castles, were plastered and whitewashed inside and sometimes outside as well. Here is an example of a whitewashed interior in the Tower of London: 
http://www.toweroflondontour.com/bloodytw.html . By the Renaissance, many were had richly paneled interiors. I was amazed to see a computer reconstruction of the Tower's Chapel of St. John. It looks like this
today: http://www.toweroflondontour.com/stjohn.html , but in the middle ages, it was entirely plastered and painted, IIRC with alternating bands of red and white on the pillars, and the odd numbered stones of the arches picked out in bright blue.

If you want to take the virtual entire tour of the tower, go here: 
http://www.toweroflondontour.com/ , but be prepared for surprisingly loud medieval music on some pages.

Should any of you plan to visit England, you MUST see the Tower. Plan for most of day there. If you haven't done the Tower and Stonehenge, you really haven't been to England.

Kind regards,

Mungo Napier, Shire of Isenfir Unofficial Librarian (mka Garth Groff, Cataloging Dept., UVA Libraries)


Smith CTR Jeffrey C wrote:
> The colors are amazing and beautiful -- nothing of the dreariness we are accustomed to seeing in European castles and palaces.
>
> Thanks for sending this!
>
> Barcsi Janos
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: atlantia-bounces at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org 
> [mailto:atlantia-bounces at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org] On Behalf Of Garth 
> G. Groff
> Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 7:45
> To: atlantia at atlantia.sca.org
> Subject: [MR] Dover Castle restoration article
>
> Friends,
>
> The BBC has a very interesting article on restorations at Dover Castle on today's news web site: 
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/8177387.stm . I visited Dover Castle four years ago, and indeed the castle was dreary, and pretty much empty. I wish I could go back now! My only question, is were the walls plastered? Probably, but I note they are just bare stone hiding behind all those tapestries.
>
> Also take note of the links to the right of the story. Some may be of great interest to Scadians. The BBC itself has many history articles, timelines and images. It is well worth spending an evening exploring their subsidiary sites.
>
> Kind regards,
>
>
> Mungo Napier, Shire of Isenfir Unofficial Librarian (mka Garth Groff, 
> Cataloging Dept., UVA Libraries)
>
>
>