Whitehall Palace - Banqueting House

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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.