Beautifull PLaces Ideas

Nigel Turner Kew Palace, London Kew Palace, located in Kew Gardens, London, is the smallest and most intimate of the royal palaces. The four-storey brick house was built c. 1631 by Samuel Fortrey, a merchant of Dutch origin, whose initials together with those of his wife Catherine, can be seen above the entrance. It is constructed of red bricks laid in a style known as Flemish bond, consisting of bricks arranged with sides and ends alternating. The gabled main front gives the house a Dutch appearance. Later alterations included the installation of sash windows to replace the original brick mullions and transforms. First used by the Royal Family in 1728, the Palace was finally purchased by George III in 1781 as an annex to the White House (now demolished, and formerly located where the sundial now stands) to accommodate his expanding family, subsequently becaming a more permanent home for the Royal Family. Queen Charlotte died her The summer home of King George III, Kew Palace is one...

Buckingham Palace has been the official residence of seven generations of British monarchs from the House of Hanover to the present reigning House of Windsor. The palace is now open to the public on a regular basis. The original Buckingham House, as it was then known, stood on the site of what was formerly a mulberry tree garden established by King James I, in an ill-advised and failed attempt to cultivate silk worms. The building was purchased for £21,000 in 1762 from Charles Herbert Sheffield by King George III as a private home for his wife Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. It had previously been owned by the Dukes of Buckingham and had been built in 1702.The couple's extravagant eldest son, George IV, gave the house an extensive and costly transformation. He employed the famous John Nash as his architect . George IV's brother and successor, King William IV, detested the building and was never to live there. Queen Victoria, who ascended the throne in 1837, was the fi...

Hampton Court Palace was not originally intended as a royal residence. It was built by Thomas, Cardinal Wolsey, minister of Henry VIII and appropriated by the King when the former failed to bring about the King's divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Wolsey's Closet, a strikingly attractive room, is now the solitary survivor of Cardinal Wolsey's personal apartments. It is situated in the range of buildings east of Clock Court. The painted panels in the room illustrate 'the Passion of our Lord' and were commissioned by Henry VIII. The linenfold panelling in the room has been restored to its former glory, while the highly ornate ceiling bears Tudor roses and the Prince of Wales feathers, below the frieze can be seen Wolsey's motto, 'Dominus michi adjutor' (The Lord my helper).King Henry VIII used the palace regularly, enlarging and altering the building, which was designed around two courtyards. The King added a further courtyard, remodeled th...

When one thinks of royal palaces, the first that come to mind are usually Buckingham, Windsor and Balmoral. However, with 2012 being the year when the Borough of Greenwich becomes the Royal Borough of Greenwich, we decided to take a look at the ancestor of these modern palaces; the Palace of Placentia.Although there has been a royal manor house in Greenwich since the reign of Edward Longshanks, the Palace of Placentia did not come into its own until it was granted to Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester in 1417. Humphrey was known as the ‘son, brother and uncle of kings’, as he was the son of King Henry IV, the brother of Henry V and the uncle of Henry VI.In 1433, Humphrey was given a grant of 200 acres of land around his Greenwich manor house to turn into a royal park (now Greenwich Park, the oldest of the royal parks). Shortly after, he was given a further grant to completely redesign his manor house and to build a tower on the current site of the Royal Observatory (then called ...

Château de Fontainebleau, France Located in the commune of Fontainebleau around 55 km to the southeast of Paris, lies one of the biggest royal French châteaux, the beautiful Château de Fontainebleau. Numerous springs in the surrounding woods and abundant game gave rise to a hunting lodge which turned into a castle during medieval times and later on into a palace for France’s monarchs beginning with Louis VII and ending with Napoleon III. The Château is well-known for its grand horseshoe staircase that leads to the Palace front door. It also contains the biggest ‘jeu de paume’ court in the world. Jeu de paume or “game of the palm” is the predecessor of modern tennis and was played by monks since the 11th century. The only imperial palace with royalty residing in it continuously for seven centuries, Chateau de Fontainebleau is a national museum and was awarded UNESCO World heritage Site status in 1981.Full description Get priority entrance to Fontainebleau, the only royal and imperial c...

Sanssouci Palace, Germany Sans souci, which means “without concerns” in French, was the summer palace and private refuge of the King of Prussia, Freidrich the Great. A place where he could retreat without care to relax in the company of his greyhounds, the Schloss Sanssouci or Sanssouci Palace is located in the city of Potsdam, bordering Berlin. Built on raised ground with cascading vineyard terraces, the architecture of Sanssouci is more ‘Frederician Rococo’ because of a strong influence of the King’s personal tastes. The Palace was designed by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, with construction starting in 1745 and completed by Jan Bouman in 1747. King Frederick William IV expanded and improved it in the 19th century and, after it somehow emerged from World War II without a scratch, Sanssouci became a tourist attraction in East Germany. Sights in Sanssouci not to be missed are the Pantheonesque gold and white Marble Hall reception area, the Voltaire Room (the French philosopher was...

This large Plaza is located in the city centre, at the intersection of Gran Vía and Princesa streets. Here you will find the Cervantes Monument, one of the most popular tourist spots. The Monument was made by Rafael Martínez Zapatero and Lorenzo Cullaut Valera and was inaugurated in 1915. The square has a fountain with a pond, and seasonally landscaped and wooded areas. Flanking the square we find two emblematic buildings of the city: Torre Madrid and Edificio España, which constitute one of the most interesting architectural areas of the capital. Torre Madrid is one of the tallest buildings in Madrid. It is 465 feet high and was built in 1957 by the brothers Julián and José María Otamendi Machimbarrena. They had been hired by the Compañía Inmobiliaria Metropolitana, for whom they had already built the Edificio España. Edificio España is one of Madrid’s most representative skyscrapers. The Otamendi brothers built it in 1953 in Neo-Baroque style. It has a staggered silhouette of four h...

Palacio Real, Spain The magnificent Palacio Real de Madrid, once used to having the royalty of Spain residing in it (although still the King’s official home), is now used only for ceremonies of the state. In 865 AD, Emir Mohammed I (who ruled over Córdoba), named the area al-Majrit or Magerit in Arabic where he wanted to build a fortress and a citadel during the Crusades to protect the town of Toledo from Christian soldiers. The fortress was taken over by Alfonso VI, King of Léon and Castille, in 1083. In the 14th century, people began calling it the Old Fortress or Antiguo Alcázar, but over the years it was turned into a palace and the permanent residence for Spain’s royalty by Charles I and his son Philip II. However, after a fire in 1734 burnt the Royal Palace of Madrid to the ground, Philip V commissioned the construction of the one that stands today as Palacio Real. Highlights include the Royal Armoury housing the royal family’s armour and weaponry preserved since the 13th ce...

Also known as the “Russian Versailles” or the “capital of fountains”, this golden-hued series of palaces called Peterhof Palace is located near Saint Petersburg, Russia on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland. Built to compete with France’s Palace of Versailles, this grand palace by the sea includes Monplaisir Palace, Grand Palace and Marly Palace. Almost destroyed by the occupying German army during World War II, Peterhof was painstakingly restored to resemble its glorious past—a Herculean task that stretched its way into the 21st century. The architecture, which began with Baroque, waltzed its way into neoclassicism during the reign of Peter’s daughter Elizabeth. Other must-see attractions here are the Grand Palace, the Ceremonial Staircase and the legion of gilded statues welcoming tourists to witness Tzarist opulence, the Grand Cascade (consisting of 64 fountains) that flows into the Samson Fountain and the Lower Gardens. The royal residence was recognised as a UNESCO Heritag...

Situated on Marpo Ri hill, 130 meters above the Lhasa valley, the Potala Palace rises a further 170 meters and is the greatest monumental structure in all of Tibet. Although a palace was already built here in the 7th century the construction of the present palace began in 1645 during the reign of the fifth Dalai Lama and by 1648 the Potrang Karpo, or White Palace, was completed. The Potrang Marpo, or Red Palace, was added between 1690 and 1694. The Potala Palace remained the residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India, after the Chinese invasion in 1959.In the autonomous region of Tibet in Chinais the city of Lhasa, where visitors can find several amazing historic attractions. Few are quite as fascinating, or as significant, as Potala Palace. The Buddhist building is enormous, and it is one of the most iconic destinations in all of Tibet. No visit to the area would be complete without entering into at least one of the 1,000 rooms that make up the Potala Palace....