Editing Blenheim Palace (section)

== Current design and architecture ==
[[File:Blenheim Plan.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Blenheim Palace, unscaled plan of the ''[[piano nobile]]''. An [[enfilade (architecture)|enfilade]] of 9 state rooms runs the length of the southern facade of the palace (marked "N" to "G" at the top of the figure). It is a tribute to the craftsmanship of the carpenters who installed the doors between the rooms that with the keys removed it is possible to look through them all, from one end of the enfilade to the other. Key A: Hall; B: Saloon; C: Green Writing Room; L: Red Drawing Room; M: Green Drawing Room; N: Grand Cabinet; H: Library; J: covered colonnade; K: Birth Room of Sir [[Winston Churchill]]; H2: Chapel; O: Bow room.]]

Vanbrugh planned Blenheim in [[perspective (visual)|perspective]];   that is, to be best viewed from a distance. As the site covers some seven acres (28,000 m<sup>2</sup>) this is also a necessity.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/architecture/inside-blenheim-palace-a-dwelling-fit-for-a-duke/article32103309/|title=Inside Blenheim Palace, a dwelling fit for a duke|date=28 September 2016|newspaper=Globe and Mail|access-date=29 July 2018}}</ref>

[[File:Ranken Blenheim.jpg|thumb|Grand salon, Blenheim Palace, c. 1918, [[William Bruce Ellis Ranken]]]]

The plan of the palace's principal block (or [[corps de logis]]) is a rectangle (''see plan'') pierced by two courtyards; these serve as little more than [[light well]]s. Contained behind the southern facade are the principal [[state apartment]]s; on the east side are the suites of private apartments of the Duke and Duchess, and on the west along the entire length of the ''[[piano nobile]]'' is given a long gallery originally conceived as a picture gallery, but is now the library. The corps de logis is flanked by two further service blocks around square courtyards (''not shown in the plan''). The east court contains the kitchens, laundry, and other domestic offices, the west court adjacent to the chapel the stables and indoor riding school.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=TicgAQAAMAAJ|title=Blenheim Palace|publisher=Country Life|volume=132|year=1962|page=1031}}</ref>

The three blocks together form the "Great Court" designed to overpower the visitor arriving at the palace. [[Pilaster]]s and pillars abound, while from the roofs, themselves resembling those of a small town, great statues in the [[Renaissance]] manner of [[St. Peter's Basilica|St Peter's]] in Rome gaze down on the visitor below, who is rendered inconsequential. Other assorted statuary in the guise of martial trophies decorate the roofs, most notably [[Britannia]] standing atop the entrance [[pediment]] in front of two reclining chained French captives sculpted in the style of [[Michelangelo]],<ref>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/browniebear/5371207646/ The arms of the Duke of Marlborough with the statue of Britannia above] Compare with figures on Tomb of Giuliano de Medici, New Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence (Category:Tomb of Giuliano de' Medici); figures above Moses and the Brazen Serpent, Sistine Chapel ceiling (File:Michelangelo Buonarroti 024.jpg); Monument of the Four Moors, of Ferdinando I de Medici, Leghorn by Pietro Tacco (File:Livorno, Monumento dei quattro mori a Ferdinando II (1626) - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 13-4-2006 01.jpg); Coin of Marcus Aurelius, RIC III 1188, White Mountain Collection (File:Marcus Aurelius Dupondius 177 2020304.jpg)</ref>  and the English lion devouring the French cock, on the lower roofs. Many of these are by such masters as [[Grinling Gibbons]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.countrylifeimages.co.uk/Image.aspx?id=45fc4503-0db6-4b17-92f4-b50261f01a49&rd=2%7C%20grinling%20gibbons%7C%7C1%7C20%7C25%7C150|title=Blenheim Palace 12342|publisher=Country Life Picture Gallery|access-date=29 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730050352/http://www.countrylifeimages.co.uk/Image.aspx?id=45fc4503-0db6-4b17-92f4-b50261f01a49&rd=2%7C%20grinling%20gibbons%7C%7C1%7C20%7C25%7C150|archive-date=30 July 2018}}</ref>

In the design of great 18th-century houses comfort and convenience were subservient to magnificence, and this is certainly the case at Blenheim. This magnificence over creature comfort is heightened as the architect's brief was to create not only a home but also a national monument to reflect the power and civilisation of the nation. To create this monumental effect, Vanbrugh chose to design in a severe Baroque style, using great masses of stone to imitate strength and create shadow as decoration.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://patrickbaty.co.uk/2011/01/14/blenheim-palace/|title=Blenheim Palace|publisher=Patrick Baty|access-date=29 July 2018}}</ref>

[[File:Blenheim Palace IMG 3649.JPG|thumb|right|upright|The architect slightly tapered the sides of the east gate to create an illusion of even greater height, the wrought iron gates date from the 1840s.]]

The solid and huge entrance [[portico]] on the north front resembles more the entrance to a [[wikt:pantheon|pantheon]] than a family home. Vanbrugh also liked to employ what he called his "castle air", which he achieved by placing a low [[tower]] at each corner of the central block and crowning the towers with vast [[belvedere (structure)|belvederes]] of massed stone, decorated with curious [[finial]]s (disguising the chimneys). Coincidentally these towers, which hint at the [[pylon (architecture)|pylons]] of an [[Egyptian temple]], further add to the heroic pantheonesque atmosphere of the building.<ref>Games, p. 334</ref>

There are two approaches to the palace's grand entrance, one from the long straight drive through [[wrought iron]] gates directly into the Great Court; the other, equally if not more impressive, betrays Vanbrugh's true vision: the palace as a [[bastion]] or [[citadel]], the true monument and home to a great warrior. Piercing the windowless, city-like curtain wall of the east court is the great East Gate, a monumental [[triumphal arch]], more Egyptian in design than [[Roman architecture|Roman]]. An [[optical illusion]] was created by tapering its walls to create an impression of even greater height. Confounding those who accuse Vanbrugh of impracticality, this gate is also the palace's [[water tower]]. Through the arch of the gate one views across the courtyard a second equally massive gate, that beneath the clock tower,<ref>This clock tower, completed in 1710 at a cost of £1,435, was despised by the 1st Duchess, who referred to it as "A great thing where the Clock is, and which is Called a Tower of great Ornament (''sic'')".</ref> through which one glimpses the Great Court.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/clock-tower-blenheim-palace-woodstock-england-news-photo/926836986#/clock-tower-blenheim-palace-woodstock-england-picture-id926836986|title=Clock Tower, Blenheim Palace|publisher=Getty Images|access-date=29 July 2018|archive-date=30 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730020854/https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/clock-tower-blenheim-palace-woodstock-england-news-photo/926836986#/clock-tower-blenheim-palace-woodstock-england-picture-id926836986|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Blenheim Palace facade October 2016.jpg|left|thumb|The pediment over the south portico is a complete break from the convention. The flat top is decorated by a trophy bearing the marble bust of Louis XIV in the centre was looted by [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough|Marlborough]] from [[Tournai]] in 1709, weighing 30 tons. The positioning of the bust was an innovative new design in the decoration of a pediment.]]
This view of the Duke as an [[omnipotent]] being is also reflected in the interior design of the palace, and indeed its axis to certain features in the park. It was planned that when the Duke dined in state in his place of honour in the great saloon, he would be the climax of a great procession of architectural mass aggrandising him rather like a [[proscenium]]. The line of celebration and honour of his victorious life began with the great column of victory surmounted by his statue and detailing his triumphs, and the next point on the great axis, planted with trees in the position of troops, was the epic Roman style bridge. The approach continues through the great portico into the hall, its ceiling painted by [[James Thornhill]] with the Duke's [[apotheosis]], then on under a great triumphal arch, through the huge marble door-case with the Duke's marble [[effigy]] above it (bearing the ducal plaudit "Nor could Augustus better calm mankind"), and into the painted saloon, the most highly decorated room in the palace, where the Duke was to have sat enthroned.<ref>Mavor, p. 23</ref>

The Duke was to have sat with his back to the great 30-tonne marble bust of his vanquished foe [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], positioned high above the south portico. Here the defeated King was humiliatingly forced to look down on the great [[parterre]] and spoils of his conqueror (rather in the same way as severed heads were displayed generations earlier). The Duke did not live long enough to see this majestic tribute realised, and sit enthroned in this architectural vision. The Duke and Duchess moved into their apartments on the eastern side of the palace, but the entirety was not completed until after the Duke's death.<ref>Holmes: ''Marlborough: England's Fragile Genius'', p. 477</ref>

The palace has been [[Listed building#England and Wales|Grade I listed]] on the [[National Heritage List for England]] since August 1957.<ref name=NHLEHouse>{{NHLE|num=1052912|desc=Blenheim Palace|access-date=16 October 2017|mode=cs2}}</ref>

===Palace chapel===
The palace chapel, as a consequence of the Duke's death, now obtained even greater importance. The design was altered by the Marlboroughs' friend the [[Earl of Godolphin]], who placed the high altar in defiance of religious convention against the west wall, thus allowing the dominating feature to be the Duke's gargantuan tomb and [[sarcophagus]]. Commissioned by the Duchess in 1730, it was designed by [[William Kent]], and statues of the Duke and Duchess depicted as [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]] and Caesarina adorn the great sarcophagus. In [[bas relief]] at the base of the tomb, the Duchess ordered to be depicted the surrender of [[Camille d'Hostun, duc de Tallard|Marshal Tallard]]. However, the theme throughout the palace of honouring the Duke did not reach its apotheosis until the dowager duchess's death in 1744. Then, the Duke's coffin was returned to Blenheim from its temporary resting place, [[Westminster Abbey]], and husband and wife were interred together and the tomb erected and completed.<ref name="Henrietta">Henrietta Spencer-Churchill</ref> Now Blenheim had indeed become a pantheon and mausoleum. Successive Dukes and their wives are also interred in the vault beneath the chapel. Other members of family are interred in [[St Martin's Church, Bladon|St. Martin's parish church]]yard at [[Bladon]], a short distance from the palace.<ref>Vanderbilt Balsan.</ref>