NARNIA, the mythical world created by CS Lewis, is to be re-created in the Irish Midlands, bringing a white Christmas to a corner of Co Westmeath.
Belvedere House and park, an 18th-century hunting and fishing lodge near Mullingar, has been given permission by the Lewis estate and Harper Collins publishers to host a one-off Narnia event coinciding with the release of Disney’s film version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
“It’s the book story that we’re sticking to,” said Bartle D’Arcy, Belvedere’s manager. “But we have permission to use images from the film, which also came through the estate.”
Lewis’s estate was impressed with the way Belvedere’s native features lend themselves to the fictional landscape. Uncannily, the grounds are dotted with Victorian lampstands, similar to the one Lucy, the book’s heroine, sees when she first enters Narnia through the wardrobe. There are also lion motifs carved on some of the stone structures.
Built in 1740 by Robert Rochfort, the first Earl of Belvedere, the park also has several follies, including Ireland’s largest, the Jealous Wall. Bartle has created a map of the house and its park, on which he has superimposed the topography of Narnia.
“We’re using the Melancholic follies,” he said. “The Gothic Octagonal Gazebo is now Cair Paravel [home to Aslan] and the Gothic Arch is the White Witch’s Castle. We also have Victorian lampstands throughout the estate.”
Disney’s film, to be released on December 9, has set off “Narniamania,” prompting a 40-fold increase in sales of Lewis’s books. As the only site in the world to secure permission to present itself as Narnia, Belvedere’s coup can be partly attributed to D’Arcy’s previous success in promoting books at the Belvedere bookshop, notably the last Harry Potter novel.
When D’Arcy approached HarperCollins about using Narnia, it sought permission from the CS Lewis Company, which manages the writer’s estate. “Bartle D’Arcy brought the idea to us,” said Geraldine Shroud, publicity director of HarperCollins. “Based on his enthusiasm, vision and what he achieved in launching the latest Harry Potter [with Bloomsbury] in Ireland, we had no hesitation in giving him the go-ahead. As expected, he has done an outstanding job in temporarily transforming the estate into the land of Narnia, using existing features and adding some new ones – including the all-important wardrobe doors.”
Bartle is hoping that if further books in the Narnia series are made into films, the event could become an annual affair.
“If it works we’ll do it every winter,” he said. “Though of course there are permanent features in the parkland – we may retain them to encourage children to explore the park.”
[More Information on Belvedere House’ Narnia Exhibit]
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