29 February 2024

The poor state of the Royal Exhibition Building was in the Age yesterday, with campaigners pointing out it needs many more $ spent – the few cracks or bits missing outside don’t look too alarming, but the condition of the painted decoration under the dome is another matter. From photos in the article and others there’s large areas that look like they’ve suffered from water penetration (leaking gutters) or maybe some other problem, completely flaked away (I think). So yes definitely the State Govt should find the funds to fix it, as well as an ongoing maintenance program. The building dates from 1880, but the murals and all the painted decoration date from the opening of the first Federal Parliament here in 1901. The scheme was by decorator John Ross Anderson, who got 4 artists to do the murals (actually paint on canvas); the 8 lower arched panels are ‘allegorical maidens’, the four triangular pendentives are various gods, and there are four scenes under the main arches (a bit in the shadows) representing arts, war, government and federation (pic 6). The north one, ‘the arts applied to peace’, seems to be completely obscured by tape or something (pic 7, the age). The murals were never painted over, whereas the rest of decoration was, a long time ago, then recreated in 1994. Pic one via @kennethwpark (cropped), others from @royalexhibitionbuilding, pics of exterior damage from @theageaustralia, exterior mine from 2018.

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