King Bladud’s pigs - in Bath

As we wandered round Bath at the weekend, I kept noticing these colourful painted pigs which are part of a street art project in Bath, called King Bladud’s pigs.

Apparently in Once-upon-a-time-land, there lived a prince called Bladud who contracted leprosy on his travels. Realising that he couldn’t inherit the kingdom, he left home with his herd of pigs who also caught the disease.

As they came upon the hot mud pools from the natural springs of Bath, the pigs rolled in the mud and were cured. Observing them, Bladud tried the natural spa treatment that people now pay good money for and was also cured, returning home to claim his inheritance.

Over 100 of these pigs have been painted by local artists and are on display in public spots around the city of Bath. Later in the summer the pigs will be auctioned - an unusual sculpture perhaps for your back garden?

There have been similar art projects in other European cities, featuring bears in Berlin, storks in Germany and a parade of cows all over the place. You can read about the project on the website here and see more photos on the Flickr photo group here.

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Dressing up in the Fashion Museum - in Bath

My sister came to visit this wet Bank Holiday Monday, so we decided to visit the Museum of Fashion in Bath. You can find it on the north side of Bath, near the Royal Crescent and The Circus, where you can see some of the grandest Georgian houses of the city.

It’s housed in a building that was once the Assembly rooms of Bath where fashionable society gathered in the 1800s to dance, drink tea and socialise and were imortalised in the novels of Jane Austen. There’s the Ballroom which is also used for concerts and weddings, so not always open, the Tea Room and the Octagon and Card rooms, which is now house the café. The chandelier in the Tea room was under restoration when we visited - all the chandeliers were enormous. You don’t need to pay to take a look at these rooms, if they are open, but the Fashion Museum costs £7.

Many of the dresses had royal connections including the two below. To the left you can see an evening gown by Hartnell, the couturier of choice in the 1950s which was worn by the actress Margaret Leighton at a ball given by Queen Elizabeth in 1960 to celebrate the marriage of her sister Princess Margaret. To the right are costumes worn at the coronation of King George IV in 1821 which was a splendid affair.

There were costumes from different eras - these are from the reign of Queen Victoria in the 1860s …

… and evening dresses from down the ages. The pink one was made around 1900 by the French couturier, Worth of Paris for the American heiress, Mary Curzon wife of the Viceroy of India. The gold is from the 1980s, by Bruce Oldfield who made dresses for Princess Diana. Which would you choose? - I’d be happy to wear either.

… and these from the Regency period in the early 1800s when Bath was in its heyday and ladies fashions were modelled on the flowing styles of Ancient Greece and Rome.

If you fancied pretending you were a Victorian lady there were some corsets and crinoline to try on, with intructions on which was the front and back - I noticed that no female passing through, including me, could resist trying them.

But I’m not sure I could compete with these bathing beauties from the 50s before lycra had been invented. These ones had a certain retro glamour to them, but I didn’t fancy the heavy knitted woollen ones, which were like something your granny would have knocked up.

Every Year since 1963 the Museum has asked a leading fashion expert to choose a Dress of the Year to add to the collections - you can see the choices down the years here and play the Dress of the Year game here.

After our visit we had some tea and cakes in the café which anyone can visit - you don’t have to be visiting the museum. The drinks and cakes were reasonably priced compared to many places in Bath and I’d recommend it as a pleasant alternative to the Pump rooms which has become a popular but expensive tourist haunt for afternoon tea or lunch in Bath.

Fashion Museum, Assembly Rooms, Bennett Street, BATH, BA1 2QH

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The view from the dome of St Peter’s - in Rome

I visited the dome of St Peter’s one afternoon with my mother - we had to queue for about half an hour to pay €7 to take the lift to the bottom of the dome. From there you go through a door and up a ramp into the base of the dome where you are close up with the wonderful mosaics and can look straight down into the basilica below or up at the rich decoration on the inside.

It was great to be so close to the mosaics - they looked so fresh that they could have been created yesterday. There were these coats of arms above the doorways:

And these oversize cherubs all round the perimeter - it was difficult to get any distance away to photograph them and there was high wire mesh to stop you going over the parapet.

Then you went through another door and started climbing the 320 steps to bring you out at the top of the dome. The steps wound round and round and as you got higher they got narrower and the roof sloped inwards, forcing you to lean at an angle.

When we got to the top it was very crowded, which you can’t really see in the photos. Every space was taken up by a person trying to get a photo with a view of the piazza behind them but without ten other tourists in the shot. It was so crowded that my mother and I managed to lose each other for 15 minutes which was amazing considering the small area - if you feel claustrophobic you’d need to chose your moment to go up.

Around the other side, you get a great view into the Pope’s back garden, which for most people is the only view you’ll get. Unfortunately, there are only limited guided tours and you have to book by e-mail, fax or telephone at least a week in advance. It’s a shame that it’s not more accessible as it looked beautiful down there.

When you’ve seen enough of the 360 degree views you descend to an outdoor terrace at the base of the dome where you can get close to the back of Bernini’s huge statues of the saints which line the front of the Basilica and round the colonade. Apparently there are 162 of them, but I noticed that they hadn’t bothered to carve many of them at the back. There’s also a place to buy coffee and a gift shop with lots of religious souvenirs.

Then we descended in the lift again to the piazza - it’s definitely worth going up to see those amazing mosaics and the views of Rome.

Related Posts
To early morning mass at St Peter’s
Roman Rituals - kiss St Peter’s toe

See all my Rome photos on Flickr

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