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Filed under Art, Holidays, Winchester 2014

Figureheads Galore

Spirit of Figurehead Display

The upper floor of ‘The Victory Gallery’ houses the ‘Spirit of Figurehead’ display which showcases a wonderful collection of ship figureheads from the late 18th century.

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16 Comments CherryPie on Jan 21st 2015

16 Responses to “Figureheads Galore”

  1. lisl says:
    January 22, 2015 at 5:39 am

    How good that so many have been preserved – I had no idea that such a collection existed, Cherie

  2. Sigrun says:
    January 22, 2015 at 7:56 am

    Oh wow, how intersting. Please one of this for my livingroom!

    Sigrun

  3. JD says:
    January 22, 2015 at 9:04 am

    I think I told you about Pablo Neruda’s house which has a huge collection of ship’s figureheads including one from the ‘famous English pirate, Henry Morgan’ (those were the words of a tour guide in the house)
    http://www.completely-coastal.com/2014/03/isla-negra-pablo-neruda-nautical-home.html

    Definitely worth a visit when you and Mr C embark on your world cruise :)

  4. London Caller says:
    January 22, 2015 at 9:07 am

    HMS Trafalgar is on BBC news today. ;)

  5. Amfortas says:
    January 22, 2015 at 10:43 am

    Oh, WOW. What a collection. You do bring us the most surprising things ! :)

  6. Chrysalis says:
    January 22, 2015 at 1:23 pm

    Just making rounds after the holidays, hoping a comment is okay – it’s just that Detroit and I were talking about these, just this past weekend – missing the beauty and pageantry of old shipping fleets, particularly the figureheads.

    We were trying to determine why we’ve lost that craftsmanship and beauty in our fleets now – is it because they’re considered not cost-effective and/or time-consuming? Too extravagant? Too silly, superstitious or frilly? The materials used now aren’t conducive to that kind of craftsmanship? In terms of battleships, is it because it’s presumed ships might look more intimidating to not have these things?

    Who can say – all I know is, if I saw a ship with one of these ethereally beautiful figureheads coming my way, I’d think God himself might be aboard :)

    • CherryPie says:
      January 22, 2015 at 9:46 pm

      I hope your holidays were good :-)

      I the Naval fleet these days is more functional and practical with safety in mind. This leads to a construction and design where a figurehead would perhaps seem out of place?

      These figureheads are fabulous :-)

  7. Donna@Living From Happiness says:
    January 22, 2015 at 9:39 pm

    What an interesting display. I would spend hours here transfixed on these sculptures….

  8. J_on_tour says:
    January 24, 2015 at 10:30 pm

    That’s an impressive photographic flavour. I think I’ve only ever seen about 3 or 4 maximum in the one museum before.