The Great Hall and the Saloon
Twenty metres above the Great Hall, Sir James Thornhill’s ceiling of 1716 shows the 1st Duke presenting his plan of the Battle of Blenheim to Britannia, among stone carvings by Grinling Gibbons. In the Saloon, the French artist Louis Laguerre painted walls and ceiling to celebrate the Duke, and even painted himself into the crowd.
The State Rooms and the Long Library
In the First State Room is the hurried note announcing the victory at Blenheim, written on the back of a tavern bill. The Long Library stretches 56 metres and holds about 10,000 books, with an organ built in 1891 at its far end; Vanbrugh died in 1726 without seeing it finished.
Gardens and park
Beyond the Water Terraces, more than 2,000 acres of parkland run down to Capability Brown’s Great Lake. Cross Vanbrugh’s Grand Bridge of 1722 to 1724, walk out to the 41-metre Column of Victory, and find the Walled Garden, the Marlborough Maze and the Butterfly House.
