Cardiff Castle Wales - Winter Smoking Room

Cardiff Castle is one of the Mid evil castle that is opened for visitors in United Kingdom. The Castle is situated at the town centre of Cardiff, Wales. The remain stood majestically on the solid ground. Even though from the exterior it doesn't look much but the extraordinary design could be seen in the interior of the castle itself. For example, the head of the fireplace in the Winter Smoking Room as shown in the picture above have one of the finest touch of William Burges, the famous architect from those day. The room tells the story of the 4 seasons in Wales by all the arts and painting on the walls.

Burges put on extra touch on the head of the fireplace that could be seen in the picture above where it shows a lover going out hunting together during spring. At the end of the head, the two lovers went out for ice skating during the winter. The carving of the head is not the only masterpiece of Burges that tells about the seasons.

From above, we could see that there is sun situated at the centre of the ceiling of the Winter Smoking Room and around it is the 12 Zodiac Signs within the 4 seasons. The external beam of the room is magnificently divided the room to four sections and each sections mark different season with their respective Zodiac Signs.From picture above, you could see the Gemini Twins, Aries, Cancer, Libra, Sagittarius, and Aquarius Zodiacs situated around the sun.

    

All the external beam will then intersect at a point where a figure or an angel is holding the sun. This work of art represent the state of the day. From the first picture above, the angel is holding the sun while partially hiding it under its clock. This represent the state of dusk of the day. While picture on the right shows the angel holding the sun solidly in her arms. This represent the state of daylight during the day. Unfortunately I didn't take anymore picture in regards to two other states which is dawn and night.

All in all, I would say that the Architect during the olden days have a unique way in designing the premise. Nowadays, all the designs designed by the architect have a more contemporary and simplicity feel and this Victorian style can never be seen in any of the modern building nowadays. Therefore I would really suggest that all the visitors invest a little bit more of money for House Tour. It cost only an additional £3.00 to the admission fees ticket and you will get great explanations of the great Cardiff Castle.

Zaza Zahidah