Brighton - Royal Pavilion

Must-see attractions nearby: Royal Pavilion Palace Pier Museum and Art Gallery Old Steine Brighton Festival Sussex Toy and Model Museum Barkham Manor

Note the fine cast iron banisters in imitation of bamboo. To the right of the corridor is the Banqueting Room with its astonishing oriental décor. This includes a chandelier of lotus shaped lamps protruding from the jaws of six chimerical creatures, all suspended from a silver dragon emerging from a cluster of palm fronds. In the Music Room to the left of the corridor more huge serpents and winged dragons adorn the domed, almost tent like room (the gas lamps were a technical novelty at the time and evoked considerable wonder). A similar indulgence in the exotic and the extraordinary prevails in the other rooms of the Pavilion, the exception being the prince's own private apartments which are in contrast plain. "Prinny's" passion for splendor provoked a popular outcry, caricaturists ridiculing his lavish lifestyle and eccentricities of taste. Queen Victoria eventually sold the outrageously extravagant palace for £50,000 to the town, which has been responsible for the building ever since.