FAMOUS GUARDS' CHAPEL

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22109, 3 June 1937, Page 12

FAMOUS GUARDS' CHAPEL

A MEMORIAL TO KING GEORGE V designed by sir nevile r WILKINSON j (FEOM OtTB OWS COEBESPOBDEBT.) .l, LONDON, May I Major Sir Nevile Wilkinson, wA known in New Zealand as the odgqator of “Titania’s Palace.” has cop* pletep a memorial in the Gutdi Chapel, Wellington Barracks, to X% George V. It was to these bazxads that the ' New Zealand conting# marched on arrival before Pirbright. 'jg The memorial comprises thejnE and sanctuary pavement of the M completes the scheme of mosaic ment that was begun some years aft and carries to its culmination zantine decorat.on of the chapel bcgg in 1875. Beyond the Communion Mjp| the first step within the saoetßg bears on its riser the inscription TOM George V.” deeply carved m gM| letters on the black marble o* 9$ step, and plainly vis.ble from the cgfc tral parts of the nave. Above* Jig; tread of the step has inscribed its whole length the commemong| words:—The altar and sanctuary ment were given by all ranks pasfrjjW present of the Brigade of GouokhK the glory of God and in men*ny# their Colonel-in-Chief. *. . The mosaic of the pavement ueygH the marble step embodies three bolic panels, the Kyrie symbol, centre, and on each side a neath a vine. The altar decorated mosaic front. yg Cross is the central theme ioSßpWSfflp diaper pattern. The altar tamHgliME' ported at its corners on maiMm lars. forming two recesses, panels of which the Tree of ;H||B depicted. Much of the work hWjgP carried out in lapis lazuli. ndgHHj| and precious marbles The Guards’ Chapel will be 100 JB® old in 1938. Its arches, pillars,.MlK and windows are all memorials, to.gjg cers of the Brigade of Guards." 1838, until 1809, the Guards used MU tend religious service in NewjWt. Chapel, in the almonry of WestmvndjS Abbey. This collapsed in 1808. VMrfgt 1820 the garrison of London w#j||| duced to attending Divine semcjpjg the cook house, if they yrrare yjjjg guards, and in the stables if they *S horse guards After some years, including a PWI of 24 months, when an application"# the guards to have their own chaw was shelved by the War Office, lag Grey, the Prime Minister, ordered tty, a chape] should be built. The Mg' began in 1835, at a time when the fig® railways were being built, and wMBBg wave of enthusiasm for Doric sawg tecture was sweeping the country. 1 !* exterior of the chapel, with its tip pillars, has, therefore, been cwnpaMß with the design of Euston station entrance, which is aot dissimilar. W interior remained uninteresting l*P whitewashed until 1875, when UN guardsmen formed a committee to #*• prove it. The decorations were ried out by George Edmond Streft designer of the Law Courts, who lw recently returned from Italy with * zest for the Byzantine school, wM* ideas he promptly introduced into ff* chapel. To-day the chapel is £amc*P« and it is a privilege to attend a vice there. Among its most intertw ing relics are the Sags which WBR flown by the guards at Waterloo #* at Crimea Some years ago. Sir Nevile WflW* son undertook the work of design# the pavement of the sanctuary **• the choir. He spent six years in prig? ing a design to scale. This was phofe graphed, and from these photogriP* the work of paving has been earn* out. Each guardsman sum of threepence towards die Ptffjjl of the altar and sanctuary, dedicts*® bj' King George VI this week to W memory of his father.