Pablo Bronstein's Temple of Solomon at Waddesdon Manor

Pablo Bronstein's exhibition 'The Temple of Solomon and its Contents' at Waddesdon Manor presents speculative architectural drawings of the biblical First Temple. The show, on view through 2 November 2025, features two suites of drawings offering alternate versions of the temple, alongside depictions of the Ark of the Covenant and a rococo-ised menorah. Bronstein's work blends historical styles—Egyptian, Greek, Assyrian—in a deliberate anachronistic muddle, framed as if produced by 19th-century Prix de Rome contestants. The installation is housed in Waddesdon Manor, a Neo-Renaissance château built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild and managed by the National Trust. A nearby room documents the Rothschild family's involvement in Zionism and the founding of Israel, including James de Rothschild financing the Knesset. Bronstein's project, while couched in historical fantasy, touches on fraught contemporary realities surrounding the Temple Mount site in Jerusalem, now occupied by the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The exhibition is reviewed in the November 2025 issue of ArtReview.