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Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage. Vanbrugh 300 is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to develop a nationwide project that aims to broaden the awareness of Vanbrugh through special displays, free education programmes and lectures, throughout his tercentenary year in 2026.
20th March to 31st October 2026
Celebrating Castle Howard’s beautiful Baroque architecture, this new exhibition, curated by architect Roz Barr, explores Sir John Vanbrugh’s visionary use of scale, shadow and light in the creation of one of Britain’s most iconic stately homes. The exhibition traces the moment when an ambitious Vanbrugh with a teeming imagination encountered the equally ambitious Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle in the confines of the Kit-Cat Club in London, and was commissioned to design the Earl’s new house. Vanbrugh’s bold, theatrical vision for a grand country mansion was captivating, and inspired Carlisle to take a chance on this would-be architect who had never built anything before, thereby giving rise to the extraordinary Castle Howard. Staging the Baroque combines showstopping architectural models, film and historical storytelling to recount this extraordinary tale of inspirational collaboration.
