Page 211 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - London

SOUTH KENSINGT ON AND KNIGHT SBRIDGE  209

8 Albert Memorial
South Carriage Drive, Kensington
Gdns SW7. Map 10 F5. 1 High St
Kensington, South Kensington. 8
2pm & 3pm first Sun of the month,
Mar–Dec. ∑ royalparks.org.uk
This grandiose but dignified
memorial to Queen Victoria’s
beloved consort was completed
in 1876, 15 years after his death.
Albert was a German prince and
a cousin of Queen Victoria’s.
When he died from typhoid in
1861, he was only 42 and they
had been happily married for 21
years, producing 9 children. It is
fitting that the monument is
near the site of the 1851 Exhibit­
ion (see pp30–31); Albert was
closely identified with the
Exhibition and the scientific
advances it celebrated. The
statue, by John Foley, shows
him with an exhibition
catalogue on his knee.
The Queen chose Sir George
Gilbert Scott to design the
monument, which stands 55 m
(175 ft) high. It is loosely based
on a medieval market cross –
although considerably more
elaborate, with a black and
gilded spire, multi­coloured
Joseph Durham’s statue of Prince Albert (1858) in front of the Royal Albert Hall marble canopy, stones, mosaics,
enamels, wrought iron and
6 Royal Albert Hall also accommodates other large nearly 200 sculpted figures. In
gatherings, such as tennis October 1998, the re­gilded
Kensington Gore SW7. Map 10 F5.
Tel 020 7589 8212. 1 High St matches, comedy shows, rock statue was unveiled by Elizabeth
Kensington, South Kensington. Open concerts, circus shows and II; it had been painted black
for performances daily. ^ 8 from major business conferences. in 1915 to avoid attracting
9:30am daily; book online or by attention during World War I.
phone. 7 0 - See Enter tain ment 7 Royal College
pp344–5. ∑ royalalberthall.com
of Art
Designed by an engineer, Kensington Gore SW7. Map 10 F5.
Francis Fowke, and completed Tel 020 7590 4444. 1 High St
in 1871, this huge concert hall Kensington, South Kensington.
was modelled on Roman Open for exhibitions (phone or check
amphitheatres and is easier on online) 7 - = Lectures, events,
the eye than most Victorian film presentations, exhibitions.
structures. On the red­brick ∑ rca.ac.uk
exterior the only ostentation is a
frieze symbolizing the triumph Sir Hugh Casson’s mainly glass­
of arts and science. The building fronted building (1962) is in
was planned as the Hall of Arts stark contrast to the Victoriana
and Science but Queen Victoria around it. The college was
renamed it to the Royal Albert founded in 1837 as a school
Hall, in memory of her husband, of design and practical art for
when she laid the foundation the manufacturing industries.
stone in 1868. It became noted for modern art
The hall is often used for in the 1950s and 1960s, when
classical concerts, most David Hockney, Peter Blake and Victoria and Albert at the Great
famously the “Proms”, but it Eduardo Paolozzi attended. Exhibition opening (1851)

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