It was one of the jewels in the crown of Georgian London: a building so unusual that a suspicious public were unconvinced it would remain standing when it was built in 1762.
Designed at the height of the eighteenth century craze for Chinoiserie, The Great Pagoda at Kew was famously adorned with eighty brightly coloured wooden dragons.
The eye-catching dragons were the talk of the town for twenty years, before disappearing in the 1780s, rumoured to be payment for the Prince Regent’s gambling debts.
Today, Historic Royal Palaces and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, have announced that the dragons are set to return to Kew Pagoda once more as part of a conservation project which will see the building returned to its 18th century splendour.
Heritage charity Historic Royal Palaces, which has already completed major restorations of Kew Palace (King George III’s former home) and the Royal Kitchens within Kew Gardens, will be undertaking a two year project to return the Pagoda to its former glory.
Offering one of the earliest and finest bird’s eye views of London, the Pagoda is expected to re-open to the public permanently in 2017.
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