Ceiling..

..Buxton Opera House.

An open day (Heritage Day) today gave the opportunity for some visiting and enjoying of buildings and architecture not usually seen.
I was torn between this one as a blip and Foucault's Pendulum in the Buxton Dome.

The six paintings seen on the ceiling here depict comedy, literature, dance, music, poetry and painting highlighting the various arts performed here. In the centre of the ceiling is the gasolier. When lit (from a switch in the gallery) it creates a circle of blue flame, which draws up warm air from the stalls of the theatre and was used to extract smoke. It remains one of only two gasoliers in Britain, the other is in The Edinburgh Festival Centre, 'The Hub'.

There were such informative and lovely volunteers on duty at the Opera House today (who were a bit overwhelmed at the volume of visitors, owing to a Magicians Convention in town.. Which, I must confess, instigated a bit of a 'spot the Magician' game) we learned a lot about the Opera House and what it's like to be a volunteer there. (And indeed, still be a volunteer at age 89!).

There are also, apparently, tide marks on the wall of the Orchestra Pit, showing the extent of flooding, owing to the natural spring there.. Buxton is famous for it's springs I guess.
Now I have the image in my head of the orchestra looking the part in bow ties but with wellies underneath.. (You have to have actually worn a pair of wellies for a few hours to understand the phrase, 'wellingtons do draw the feet'.
Don't you?).