For generations of English children, Kensington Gardens represent the setting of the book Peter Pan by James Matthew Barrie. For others, they are the locus amoenus chosen by William III and Mary II for their London home or where Queen Victoria was born in Kensington Palace itself. Giving these gardens in the heart of London their current luxurious look was Caroline, wife of George II, who, in 1728, designed them to include the Serpentine and Long Water (two sections of the same lake) from the waters of the Westbourne River. For the better part of the XVIII Century, these green lungs were closed to the public, gradually being opened only to those who were dressed respectably enough. In 1860, on the North side of the park, near Lancaster Gate, Queen Victoria commissioned the Italian Gardens. With the central rosette sculpted in Carrara marble and Portland stone, it presents a collection of stone statues of animals and a woman’s head. It is said that the garden was a gift from Prince Albert to his beloved Victoria. The grounds are reminiscent of the garden of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, where the Royal Family spent its holidays. Prince Albert, passionate about gardening, wanted that residence to have an Italian garden with raised terraces, fountains and geometrically shaped flower beds. In 1860, this idea was transplanted in Kensington Gardens.
Elizabeth Mallet, the Director of London’s First Daily
The first editor in history announced that she wanted to publish foreign news items without additional commentary, supposing that readers had “enough common sense to think for themselves”.
At the British Museum, a Journey through the History of the Tantra
From India in the Middle Ages to contemporary feminism, tantric philosophy revolutionised both East and West. But what do we really know about it? A gallery of precious objects reveals its secrets across cultures and time.
A Journey in a Painting - William Hodges in Tahiti
It was 1772 when the British artist departed with Captain Cook to explore the Pacific. His paintings showed Europeans far-off lands for the first time, rife with exotic dreamscapes and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
When Art is Adrenalin. In Orbit with Carsten Höller and Anish Kapoor
Climb up the highest sculpture in the United Kingdom and slide down the vertiginous tunnel of the Slide - it’s happening in the East End where the ArcelorMittal Orbit brings back the thrills of the 2012 Olympic Games.
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