Corninthian Column

We decided to go to Bantry House this afternoon, between the showers. There's a bit of a hoohaah going on. Bantry House is an 18C house with amazing views over-looking Bantry Bay. It was given to the White family as a reward for helping the British agains the French/Irish invasion of 1796 and an Earldom was dished out. The family still live in it and it's been open to the public since 1947. It is a fine old building, a real mixture of styles and materials but it is slowly disintegrating and the family are struggling. One of its glories is the original furnishings inside (leather wallpaper, decaying paintwork, wonky chandeliers,an incredible buffet) all of which are in need of a bit of tlc. One of the Earls was a great traveller and plundered collected some astonishing artefacts on his Grand Tour - bits of mosaic from Pompeii, Gobelin tapestries, a portable icon box incredibly ornately inlaid etc. And many things have just been made especially for the house - dinner services, paintings, carpets. But it's all crumbling.
A dramatic solution to raising money was to auction of some of the more valuable items - a date was set for later this month but this has just fallen through. It is a wonderful and eccentric place, full of treasures and full of Irish history. Some people will think it is no loss as it smacks of colonialism, privilege and elitism but I personally think the State needs to step in pretty quickly and give them a hand before it's all lost. Sadly photography was not allowed inside.

Arthouse tonight is Ilo Ilo, from singapore. I will report back.