TITANIA’S PALACE.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 8 February 1936, Page 6

TITANIA’S PALACE.

UNIQUE TREASURE HOUSE.

QUEEN MARY’S TOPICAL GIFT,

Nearly 30 years ago a child playing ic an Irish garden claimed to have seen a fairy disappear into the foot of a 'Tnarlcd tree. This incident inspired her artist father, Sir Neville Wilkinson, to create a Lilliputian palace so magnificent that the fairies might be lured from their underground haunts, bringing with them their treasures.

Since then Titania’s Palace has travelled many thousands of miles and, in delighting the children and grown-ups alike, has been the means of raising huge sums for crippled and neglected children. It was formally opened in Auckland by the Governor-General, Viscount Galway and will be on exhibition in Palmerston North on February 17th until March 4th. The proceeds of the display will be devoted to the Manawatu branch of the Crippled Children Society.

It took Id years of patient work to create this exquisite dwelling, and it was fitting that Her Majesty Queen Marv should have opened it with a (■olden key on her own birthday and signed her name in the tiny Royal visitors’ book which is only the size of u postage stamp. .Since then Her Majesty has never ceased to take the keenest interest in it and lately there arrived a piece of the Duke of Gloucester’s wedding cake as a special gift to Titania from the Queen herself. MANY EXHIBITIONS. For three years after its completion the palace was shown in the British Isles, followed by three mor c years in America. It returned to England and ihen was sent to the Argentine Exhibition. In the next year it was in Amsterdam and then commenced its trip to the Antipodes with a most successful tour of Australia, where upward of 200,000 people were privileged to see it. A catalogue of the treasures within the palace would occupy a volume. Nowhere in the world could there be assembled in such a small space so many tiny antiques. Many of them are centuries old, the work of patient craftsmen of many countries. Each object seems to have a history of its own. Thus the throne of Queen Titania has made for the Paris exhibition in 1856 ■:.];?id into the back a diamond peacock and valued at £(100. It carries a pair of tiny gold figures said to have been Mi. work of the great Cellini, and the seat is made from a pic re of fossil mastodon bone from Colorado. UNIQUE FURNITURE. Other such treasures are a cannon nmde by a Nurcmburg armourer about the year 1580, an original book of hours illuminated about 1150, and a set of Bristol glass over 100 years old. The pictures on the various walls represent a collection of miniatures by famous artists through the centuries, while while the furniture comprises a unique collect ion of “tinycraft. ” In one room is a perfectly proportioned bookcase containing 75 volumes printed, illustrated and bound in calf. Throughout there are many examples of the beautiful work of Sir Neville Wilkinson, friezes, mosaics, and mural decorations, while his git ted f riends have contributed incredibly small musical instruments, pictures, inlays, stained enamels, and many other objects. Throughout its tours the palace has received numerous gifts from craftsmen and collectors, enough to fill a large case having been accumulated on the present trip. Some have already found their way into the palace and visitors will see what must surely be the tiniest set of bowls ever made, perfect even to the bias, and a rack of brooms made of Australian woods and the hair of an Airedale dog.

Over 1,000,000 visitors have viewed these exquisite examples of miniature craftsmanship and already it has contributed over £50,000 to child welfare work.

The custodians of the palace, Miss 11. M. Leslie and Miss F. A. Hills, have been associated with it for a number of years, with the responsibility of erecting and dismantling it and packing its numerous treasures. It occupies 03 square feet and stands 27in high, and, when packed for transport, weighs .‘lf tons. When complete it is lighted and heated by electricity, and is carefullv designed to withstand changes of climate.