State Entrance Chimeras -- Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, UK
N 51° 29.042 W 000° 36.183
30U E 666426 N 5706377
Gargoyles decorate the entrance to the State Entrance in the Upper Ward of Windsor Castle
Waymark Code: WMTBG3
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/28/2016
Views: 3
Neo-Gothic chimeras on the grand State Entrance, installed in a vast 1824-1830s renovation and addition project undertaken by King George VI in 1824.
From the Royal Collection Trust: (
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'Windsor Castle has been the home of 39 monarchs, and the appearance of the State Apartments today reflects the changing tastes of the Castle’s royal occupants, particularly Charles II (r.1660-85) and George IV (r.1820-30).
Charles II set out to rival the achievements of his cousin, Louis XIV, at Versailles in France. He modernised the Castle’s interiors, which became the grandest State Apartments in England, with painted ceilings by Antonio Verrio and carvings by Grinling Gibbons.
With his architect Sir Jeffry Wyatville, George IV gave the State Apartments a new grand entrance and staircase, and he added the colossal Waterloo Chamber, celebrating the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815, introduced in the short film below by Desmond Shawe-Taylor, Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures."