The Waterloo Vase

The Waterloo Vase is a 15-foot (4.6 m) stone urn, situated in the garden of Buckingham Palace in central London. Fashioned from a single piece of Carrara marble, it was initially presented to Napoleon I, who intended to have it carved in celebration of anticipated future military victories. After the Emperor’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, the uncarved vase was given to the Prince Regent, later George IV. The Prince commissioned the sculptor, Richard Westmacott to decorate the vase with reliefs celebrating the victory at Waterloo. The original plan to place the vase in the Waterloo Gallery at Windsor Castle proved unrealisable, the weight of the vase being greater than the gallery’s floors could bear. It was therefore given to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. Considering the vase surplus to its requirements, the gallery placed it first in Hyde Park, London and then into storage at the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1903, it was offered by the museum to the new king, Edward VII, who installed it as a garden ornament in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, where it remains. The vase is a Grade I listed structure.