Blenheim Palace set to install £1million gold toilet for visitors to use

The golden toilet was stolen by a 'group of offenders', police said
AFP/Getty Images

An 18-carat gold toilet has been plumbed into Blenheim Palace for visitors to use, but they’ll have to respect a strict time-limit.

The lavatory, created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, will go on display at the Oxfordshire stately home in September.

The fully-functioning throne will be open for public use, but a three-minute time limit will be imposed to reduce queue times.

It has been placed opposite the room where Winston Churchill was born, and visitors will be able to book their time-slot in advance.

Visited by some 600,000 tourists per year, Blenheim Palace was built in the early 18th century and is now home to the 12th Duke of Marlborough

There will be 20 slots an hour for art, or lav, lovers to choose from, provided they buy a £27 ticket for the palace, park and gardens.

When the lavatory first opened at New York’s Guggenheim museum in 2016, it was so popular that people queued for hours to place their cheeks upon its glittering seat.

Some 100,000 used it for its intended purpose, according to The Times.

Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan created the piece which he titled 'America'
FilmMagic

The piece previously made headlines in 2017 when it was offered on loan to Donald Trump.

The US president had initially asked the museum to lend him an 1888 Van Gogh painting, but it rejected the request, offering Cattelan's golden masterpiece, titled ‘America’, instead.

A Trump effigy was created during protests in June, showing the president tweeting while sitting on a golden toilet
In Pictures via Getty Images

The flushable America arrived at the Marlborough family’s 300-year-old country home, last week, ready for a contemporary art exhibition that will open next month.

The Duke of Marlborough’s half-brother and founder of the Blenheim Art Foundation Edward Spencer-Churchill told the Times: “Despite being born with a silver spoon in my mouth I have never had a s*** on a golden toilet, so I look forward to it.”

The artwork is valued at more than £1million, but the palace appears relaxed about security.

“It’s not going to be the easiest thing to nick,” Mr Spencer-Churchill said.

“Firstly, it’s plumbed in and secondly, a potential thief will have no idea who last used the toilet or what they ate. So no, I don’t plan to be guarding it.”

The toilet will be on show at Blenheim from September 12 to October 27, and will be sat upon by an estimated 6,000people.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in