A CHAIR designed by Lawrence of Arabia for his cottage near Wareham has been loaned to a German museum.

The National Trust, which cares for T E Lawrence’s historic Clouds Hill home, agreed to the loan only after commissioning a replica, made at a Shaftesbury workshop.

Cologne’s Rautenstrauch-Joest museum will display the original chair until the end of the year.

National Trust curator James Grasby said: “Normally we are reluctant to loan items during the open season, so as not to disappoint visitors by their absence.

“But by having a replica made we can let visitors not only see what it looks like, but to experience just how comfortable this chair was to sit in.”

The original was made to Lawrence’s own design at the end of the 1933 and arrived at the cottage in January 1934.

Tragically, Lawrence died following a motorbike accident 18 months later.

Nobody was allowed to sit on the original, but visitors will be able to try out the replica.

Mr Grasby said: “It really is very comfortable indeed.

“Lawrence put it by the fire in the book room downstairs, which was also his bedroom, and must have used it all the time.”

The replica was commissioned from Dominic Parish of Wardour Workshops.

On the original, Mr Grasby said: “Tailored to Lawrence, it came with a stylish stainless steel book rest. Sitting there, he must have appeared like a pilot in the cockpit of a fighter plane, navigating his way through the virtual worlds laid out in his huge collection of books, at low level and with breathtaking speed of mind.”