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Photo: 瑞丽江的河水, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This Palladian villa was built as a hunting lodge in 1740 for Robert Rochfort the first Earl of Belvedere. He made it his main home since he was using his residence at Gaulstown (now demolished) to incarcerate his wife Mary Molesworth for having an affair with his brother Arthur; he also got Arthur imprisoned for debt (the unpaid legal damages for the affair). They were only released when he died, Arthur having been confined 18 years and Mary 31 years. He'd also built Belvedere — which of course means "pleasant view" — right next to his brother George, who he hated: the great ramshackle wall that looks like the ruin of an earlier castle is a "jealousy wall" so he didn't have to see George's better mansion. His cause of death was blunt trauma to the head, but there was no appetite for hunting a culprit, so it was called a maybe-accident. After various owners the property passed to Westmeath County Council in 1982. House and gardens have been extensively restored.
Belvedere House and Gardens is a country house located approximately 8 kilometres (5 mi) from Mullingar, County Westmeath in Ireland on the north-east shore of Lough Ennell. It was built in 1740 as a hunting lodge for Robert Rochfort, 1st Earl of Belvedere by architect Richard Cassels, one of Ireland's foremost Palladian architects.
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Parkland course by the lake, the chief tournament is the Scratch Trophy in August (72 holes strokeplay). Rory McIlroy won it in 2006. Blue tees are 6683 yards, par 72.
Races are on Saturday and Sunday evenings. TV coverage intersperses races here with those at Shelbourne Park Dublin.
This impressive Roman Catholic cathedral was built from 1933 in Renaissance style and consecrated in 1939. It has striking mosaics by Boris Anrep (1883-1969), who clearly had half his mind on the poet Anna Akhmatova when he decorated the chapel of St Anne.