Saloon of Royal Pavilion, Nash View, 1826

Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove

The Royal Pavilion begun in 1787 was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, then Prince of Wales, later Regent in 1811. The Saloon was the central room of the earlier Marine Pavilion and the interior decoration has changed several times since the earliest days of the building.

Since 2006 various conservation projects have been carried out on the Saloon and current work has included recreating the original silver and ‘pearl’ white wall decoration and installing specially-woven crimson silk panels as it looked when it was completed. Also the fitting of a replica of the original carpet, designed for the room by Robert Jones.

This visit will be led by David Beevers, Keeper of the Royal Pavilion and Annabel Westman, Executive Director of The Attingham Trust and Independent textile historian. David Beevers will give an outline history of the Pavilion followed by Annabel Westman taking a detailed look at the specific Saloon restoration projects with special focus on the silk panels and carpet. She will explain how she found the most historically accurate silks for the panels and how a sample of the original saloon silk was discovered in a book of English and French silk samples from 1764, held in the V&A’s archives.

This will be followed by a tour around the ground floor state rooms before Pavilion object conservator Andy Thackray talks about the restoration of the pair of Bailey and Sanders of London cabinets made to a design by Robert Jones, c.1822.

Cost: £40

Limit: 20 members

Closing date for applications:  Friday, 24 August 2018