continued from Part 8. This is the story of how the David Livingstone Centre was formed in 1929. Today, we continue looking at how the beautiful Tableaux which were once in the “dark room” were funded. The precious polychromatic plaster tableaux depicting David Livingstone’s historic journey to Africa have now been painstakingly restored [pictured] ahead of […]
Tag: tableaux
Story of Memorial to David Livingstone – 8 Livingstone Gallery
Let’s get back to telling the story of how the David Livingstone Centre was formed in 1929. An account written in the 1940’s is transcribed here, this time exploring how the Livingstone Gallery of ‘Tableaux’ came about. The Tableaux are pictured in 1958, in the popular “Dark Room”. James I MacNair, Chairman of the David […]
The Tableaux
Earlier this week David Livingstone Birthplace posted about the beautiful tableaux, now renovated being fitted into the newly renovated museum. Pictured are the contractors carefully fitting the eight sculptures back into place. You may remember seeing them previously in the dark room? I realised i’ve not written much about this subject, so here’s some info […]
1958 The Dark Room
Staying with a theme of being inside Blantyre building, this next one needs no introduction. There was hardly a child in Blantyre who didn’t know what this room was….though this photo IS a little brighter than they may be used to. This is the Dark Viewing Gallery in the David Livingstone Centre. Pictured in 1958, […]
Tableaux Conservation Programme
A group of precious polychromatic plaster tableaux depicting David Livingstone’s historic journey to Africa have been painstakingly restored as part of a £6.1million project to transform the Scottish explorer’s birthplace, due to re-open to the public in 2020. The tableaux, created by prominent 20th Century British sculptor Charles d’Orville Pilkington Jackson in the 1920s, were […]
Dark room lights go out
This last week saw the disappearance of a much remembered tourist feature in Blantyre. The Dark Room. At the David Livingstone Centre museum, the few lights that set the scene so eerily in this room for the last 89 years, were disconnected…. for good. The museum has recently been closed whilst recording and packing all […]