Whitehall Palace - Banqueting House

The Banqueting House was part of the old Whitehall Palace, and is now again in use for government receptions. Whitehall Palace was originally (13th C) the London seat of the archbishops of York, and later the residence of the powerful Cardinal Wolsey, in the reign of Henry VIII. After Wolsey's fall in 1529 the palace was enlarged and became a royal residence. Henry VIII was married to Anne Boleyn in Whitehall Palace in 1533, and died there in 1547. His daughter Elizabeth was taken from Whitehall to be confined in the Tower, later returning in triumph as queen. Charles I was beheaded outside the palace, and Oliver Cromwell lived and died in it in 1658. After William III transferred his private residence to Kensington Palace, the old palace was destroyed by fire (1698), and only the Banqueting House was spared by the flames. The Banqueting House, designed by Inigo Jones in the Palladian style, was completed in 1622, replacing an earlier building of the time of Henry VIII which was burned down in 1619. Following recent restoration it has recovered all its original splendor. The staircase leads up to the Banqueting Hall, a double cube 38m long, 18m across and 18m high (11x55x55ft). This is notable particularly for the nine allegorical ceiling paintings by Rubens, assisted by Jordaens and other pupils (1635). The central scene depicts the Apotheosis of Charles I; another painting symbolizes the Union of England and Scotland. Rubens received a fee of £3,000 and a knighthood for his work. The Banqueting House was the scene not only of banquets but of a number of historic events. A bust of Charles I on the staircase marks the position of the window through which he walked to the scaffold erected in front of the Banqueting House. In the Banqueting Hall Cromwell was invited by Parliament to accept the crown; and here, too, after the Restoration, Parliament swore loyalty to Charles II.

Whitehall Palace Banqueting House is considered one of the first Renaissance buildings in England.