Page 135 - AIT0319_E-Paper

Abbildung: historische Postkarte, © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Ein Verwandter Beckfords im Geiste wie im Schicksal war Ludwig II. – sein Exil hieß Schloss Neuschwanstein.

activity and his secret life in the Fonthill Gifford forest. Now everyone – both foes and
friends – wanted to see how the "Foul of Fonthill" lived. Beckford had expected this
interest and had a catalogue of his collections to be auctioned produced in advance.
More than 70,000 copies were sold within a few weeks. In addition, he opened the
Foto: Creative Commons, © Daderot everyone interested. However, he himself left his property before the auction and left
gates to Fonthill Abbey for the first time and took a substantial entrance fee from

everything else to Christie's auction house. The building and its surroundings alone
became the property of gunpowder manufacturer John Farquhar for the spectacular
sum of 330,000 pounds. A big malinvestment, as it soon turned out: Only three years

parts of the building. Thus, the haste with which Beckford had the building construct-
Nachdem er Fonthill Abbey verkauft hatte, baute Beckford in Bath noch einmal einen neuen Turm. after the purchase, on 21 December 1825, the abbey tower collapsed and buried large
ed and with which he urged his architect to even more daring constructions finally
took its toll. When Beckford heard about the collapse, he regretted – all English eccen-
drawings of the Décadence – for example for Oscar Wilde's "Dorian Gray" or the fig- tric he was! – less the destruction of his life's work but rather the fact that he had
ure of Jean des Esseintes from Joris-Karl Huysman's novel "À rebours". Another com- missed this last and perhaps greatest spectacle of Fonthill Abbey.
rade in spirit as in fate was the legendary Bavarian King Ludwig II. In the course of
his reign, he too – more interested in the stable boys than in the ladies of his court – The end: A new tower
came increasingly into conflict with the moral ideas of his time and society. He also
fled into his own lonely exile: Neuschwanstein Castle, which he had built on an It was all right for Beckford to laugh, because the auction of his property had made
impassable rock in the Bavarian foothills of the Alps and which, like Beckford's him a rich man again. After the loss of his secluded forest abbey, he moved to Bath,
abbey, basically followed an ascetic medieval model – that of the castle – but which, 30 miles north of Fonthill Gifford, which was already regarded as the preferred retire-
like Fonthill Abbey, ultimately emerged as a highly artificial, completely exaggerated ment resort of the British upper class due to its hot springs. Beckford lived here in sev-
dream world. And like Beckford half a century before him, King Ludwig II took over eral interconnected houses at Lansdown Crescent, one of those striking, semi-circular
the construction and maintenance costs of his fairy-tale castle. The horrendous sums squares that had been typical of Bath's cityscape since the 18th century. In addition,
he invested in Neuschwanstein ultimately cost the monarch his throne. Beckford had Beckford owned extensive estates in the north of the city, which once again spurred
also failed to finance his gigantomanic escapist venture, but in the downfall he his creative urge. As in Fonthill, Beckford again created his own garden realm in Bath
proved far more skill and wit than the Bavarian king. – with terraced areas full of exotic plants and romantic garden architecture such as
footbridges, artificial grottos, and water basins. Again, he surrounded his property
The last spectacle of Fonthill Abbey with a high wall and crowned his works with a tower. Only the scale had changed:
everything was only half as high and only half as big as in Fonthill Gifford. The new
Napoleon's Continental Blockade, which cut off British products from the European tower, for example – Beckford commissioned the young, little-known architect Henry
market between 1806 and 1811, as well as the law banning slave trade enacted by Goodridge to build it – was much more modest with a height of 47 metres. But its
Great Britain in 1807, severely affected the businesses of Beckford's family after 1800. structure was much more stable! And so, the so-called Beckford Tower still bears wit-
In addition, the invention of modern industrial processes for the production of sugar ness today to the passions and obsessions of its owner. Above all, the gilded
from domestic sugar beet caused the annual turnover from the sugar trade to drop belvedere at the top of the tower, an octagonal temple based on the ancient Choragic
dramatically. This made it increasingly difficult for Beckford to finance the costly Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, is visible from afar. The tower and the modest
maintenance of Fonthill Abbey. In 1822, he therefore decided to sell the property and Italian country cottage below have served as a museum since the 1990s. Around it is
have part of his art collections auctioned. Beckford could now use the fact that he a small, overgrown cemetery. It was laid out after Beckford's death and he himself
had hidden himself and his possessions from the public for years for one last big was later reburied here. His mighty sarcophagus made of red granite stands on a
coup. The announcement of the auction alone spread like wildfire throughout the small mound in the middle of the cemetery. The sublime frisson, which still emanates
country. Time and again, there had been reports about Beckford's ominous building from his grave today, would certainly have pleased the horror and fairy tale author.

AIT 3.2019 • 135