Smoke And Mirrors

Welcome back to the glitzy, kitschy and somewhat disturbing world of The House On The Rock. It’s a place of smoke and mirrors that some might call magical. But the word ‘magical’ conjures up images of Disney World and this, my friends, is anything but. At every tortuous turn you are confronted with the astounding, the astonishing and the bizarre.

Everything is on a grand scale as you will soon find out when you enter the Magnificent Music of Yesterday. From the giant Gladiator calliope to the automated music machines in The Blue Room and The Red Room, all are designed to amaze you. My favorite, The Mikado music machine, which is large enough to fill an entire room by itself, was created from designs by Alex Jordan. The organ, accompanied by flutes temple bells, kettle drums and cymbals crashes out music like Dance Macabre and the Ritual Dance of Fire. Here again, not everything is as it seems. Many of the instruments that make up these music machines are not actually playing. The music is already recorded. But you are so mezmerised by what you are seeing that it doesn’t seem to matter.

Possibly still reeling from what you’ve already seen, you enter the Heritage of the Sea exhibit. Wow! It’s just about impossible to get the entire scene into one single shot. This monstrous diorama shows a 200ft whale-like creature battling a giant octopus while being chased by an old-time whaling expedition. As you climb the ramps and steps leading to the top of the creature’s head, you pass walls lined with display cases containing model ships and other seafaring artifacts many of which, I suspect, are the products of the House’s workshops.

From sea monsters we move on to something slightly less threatening. Dolls. There are probably hundreds of dolls at the House On The Rock and most of these are displayed on two carousels in The Doll Room, one of them a 6-tiered creation, the other with 3 tiers. At first glance you might think, how cute! But as your eye travels to the uppermost tier you are met with the sight of naked ladies (which seem to be a recurring theme throughout the House) and satyrs. Not exactly something for the kiddies.

Even the doll houses have a sinister look to them. Although they are lit from within, the room itself is in near-darkness. There are more than 250 doll houses in the collection, some set against a backdrop of large stained glass windows.

The Circus Building houses over one million pieces that comprise the collection of miniature circus dioramas. And just when you have become accustomed to looking at things in miniature, you enter a room with life-sized elephants and a colossal band wagon. You begin to think you’ve seen it all, and then there’s the The Circus Band with 80 life-sized mannequins playing various instruments. It took 14 people three years to create this automated 120 piece ensemble which includes 37 miles of wiring and 2300 pneumatic motors.

And that’s not all. I hope you will join me next time when we will explore two of the most fantastic rooms at the House On The Rock. Prepare to be amazed!