Taking a "walk" through Tara's Palace

Sorry I skipped a couple of days here - we were tied up all weekend with the "Gathering in Gagetown" so I was unable to get back to the postings. However, I didn't forget that I had promised to share the rest of my pictures with you.

These pictures are all kind of crappy because each room is covered by glass and the sun was streaming through the large windows of the room in which it is housed. But ... here goes anyway!

Keep in mind when looking at each of these rooms, that everything you see is completely hand made, by some of the most skilled craftspersons in the world. Paintings are painted, glass items are blown, pottery is made, carpets are stitched....an incredible display of artistry. The building itself was superbly crafted by Irish woodworkers and craftsmen.

We'll start with the first side and work our way around. Here,again, is the view of the whole side:

On this side you have the chapel, which is two stories high:

We also have the Games Room:

...the cream bedroom:

...the music room:

...the formal dining room:

this is the first room where I also took pictures of the mirrors placed on the floors at the front of the room. These are there to allow viewers to see the beautiful, intricately hand-painted and decorated ceilings reflected in the mirrors...or, as in this case, special light fixtures such as the hand made, lead crystal chandeliers hanging in the dining room. Without the mirrors, you would have to be a contortionist to actually see the wonderfully painted and decorated ceilings:

and, tucked in between rooms, the green marble bathroom:

Moving around the corner to the next side:

We now have the blue room:

...the drawing room:

It's in this room where we find the most expensive piece of 1:12 scale furniture in Tara's Palace - an antique, hand-crafted, leather topped games table which, if I heard correctly, is valued at over 10,000 Euros:

We also have the drawing room:

...the open, two-storey foyer:

...the ivory room, filled with exquisite pieces of hand-carved ivory, and a beautiful painted ceiling to match:

...and, in contrast to these more delicate rooms, we have a dining room furnished with the darker, heavier pieces of a Tudor dining room:

Now let's walk around the corner to the third side (again - my apologies for the reflections - I tried so hard to avoid them, to no avail):

On this side pf the Palace, we have the amazing silver room, where the incredible works of several master silversmiths are on display:

...and the ceiling of the silver room:

...the men's sitting room:

...the library, filled with hundreds of readable books, followed by a view of the library's ceiling:

...the garden room and ceiling:

...this next room is close to impossible to see because of the reflection but I am putting it in anyway. This is the chinoisserie room. The black lacquered furniture and wall panels with incredible hand-painted Asian motifs is breathtaking:

...this side ends with the nursery and a view of part of the nursery ceiling:

With that, I must say, it is getting late and I do need to be up early tomorrow so...we will continue this tour tomorrow with the last side - the functional side where the servants perform the many functions necessary to keep a palace of this size running smoothly. I hope you've enjoyed the tour so far - despite the terrible quality of the pictures. Darn that shiny glass!!! See you tomorrow. TTFN!! - Marilyn