Eltham Palace in Southeast London has an 800-year history of luxury and glamour. In her richly illustrated Royal Oak Foundation February 3 online lecture, Dr. Dominique Bouchard will explore the story of Eltham from its first mention in the Domesday survey of 1086, to its role as the 1490s boyhood home of King Henry VIII, to its transformation into a chic Art Deco residence.
In its early history Eltham was renovated and added onto by England’s most famous kings and queens so much so that by the late 16th century it was larger and more ornate than Hampton Court Palace! By the early 17th century, however, Eltham fell into decline. During the English Civil War, Parliamentary troops ransacked the palace, after which it remained a ruin for more than 250 years. In 1936 it was saved and transformed by eccentric millionaires Stephen and Virginia Courtauld. They combined the medieval hall with a new, ultra-modern 1930s Art Deco residence. After WWII the Ministry of Works became responsible for management of the palace. English Heritage took over in 1995 and is restoring the interiors of the 20th-century house and the gardens to their 1930s Courtauld-era appearance.
Dr. Dominique Bouchard is Head of Learning and Interpretation at English Heritage where she leads teams delivering award-winning interpretation and exhibitions, publishing, learning, youth engagement, digital curatorial and contemporary arts commissioning across more than 420 historic buildings, monuments and sites, from Stonehenge to Hadrian’s Wall and from Osborne House to a Cold War bunker in York. She has led exhibitions, public programmes and learning in museums in Hong Kong, Ireland and the UK. Dominique holds a BS in Applied Physics and BA in Mathematics from Columbia University in New York and received her DPhil at the University of Oxford in classical archaeology. Her doctoral research explored the relationship between public art, identity and power in Medieval and early Renaissance south Italy. Dominique is a trustee of the William Morris Society and has worked as expert consultant for the European Commission, Council of Europe and UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the area of museums, heritage and divided societies.
$20 general admission. Registration required. Visit https://www.royal-oak.org/events/winter-2021-online-lectures-tours-eltham-palace-and-garden/
