Emperor's Dream to King's Folly: The Provenance of the Antiquities from Lepcis Magna Incorporated into the ‘Ruins’ at Virginia Water (part 2)

Abstract

AbstractIn the grounds of Windsor Great Park stands an elaborate folly in the form of an idealised classical ruin. Built at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the ruins are constructed almost entirely from reused material. This includes an important assemblage of antiquities from the Roman site of Lepcis Magna, in Libya. Whilst the origin of the collection has never been forgotten, there has been no attempt to establish the provenance of the individual elements. Through a process of comparison, this article establishes where most of the antiquities originated. Increasing our knowledge of both this important folly and the collection of incorporated antiquities, this article also explores the nature of Warrington's work at Lepcis Magna.