Queen's House - Greenwich (London, UK)
N 51° 28.879 W 000° 00.232
30U E 708033 N 5707608
This British post stamp issued in 2008 by UniversalMail, from series devoted to Royal Museums at Greenwich, depicts one of Greenwich landmarks - the Queen's House.
Waymark Code: WMQAVG
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/25/2016
Views: 9
This British post stamp issued in 2008 by UniversalMail, from series devoted to Royal Museums at Greenwich, depicts one of Greenwich landmarks - the Queen's House.
The Queen's House is a former royal residence built between 1616–1635 in Greenwich. Its architect was Inigo Jones, for whom it was a crucial early commission, for Anne of Denmark, the queen of King James I of England. The Queen's House is one of the most important buildings in British architectural history, being the first consciously classical building to have been constructed in Britain. It was Jones's first major commission after returning from his 1613–1615 grand tour of Roman, Renaissance and Palladian architecture in Italy.
Some earlier English buildings, such as Longleat and Burghley House, had made borrowings from the classical style; but these were restricted to small details not applied in a systematic way, or the building may be of a mix of different styles. Furthermore, the form of these buildings was not informed by an understanding of classical precedents. The Queen's House would have appeared revolutionary to English eyes in its day. Jones is credited with the introduction of Palladianism with the construction of the Queen's House, although it diverges from the mathematical constraints of Palladio and it is likely that the immediate precedent for the H shaped plan straddling a road is the Villa Medici at Poggio a Caiano by Giuliano da Sangallo.
Today the building is both a grade I listed building and a Scheduled ancient monument, a status which includes the 115-foot-wide (35 m), axial vista to the River Thames. The house now forms part of the National Maritime Museum and is used to display parts of their substantial collection of maritime paintings and portraits. It was used as a VIP centre in the 2012 Olympic games. [wiki]
The stamp was issued by UniversalMail United Kingdom Ltd., not by Royal Mail.
Some information from their web:
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