Long Gallery at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
The Long Gallery at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire runs the whole length of the east side of the house. The space is hung with portraits and tapestries to display the wealth and elevated social status of Bess of Hardwick.
The room is 162 feet long (49.3 meters), 26 feet high (almost 8 meters) and 40 feet wide (12 meters) at its widest point. It is the largest (though not the longest) surviving Elizabethan long gallery and the only one to retain its original tapestries which have been in place since purchased by Bess between 1592-1593.
Long galleries were popular in country houses during both the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. They were often placed on the highest reception floor of British stately homes, usually running along one complete side of the house.
There are other examples of long galleries at Aston Hall, Broughton Castle, Haddon Hall, Lyme Hall, Montacute House, Osterley Park & Manor, Scone Palace near Perth in Scotland, Syon House, and Windsor Castle.
The walls of the vast space are hung with the Gideon Tapestries, now completely restored following a 24-year project by the National Trust. They are a set of 13 Flemish tapestries that tell the biblical story of Gideon, a judge and military leader of Israel, and his victory over the Midianites.
Images of Britain: Long Gallery at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
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