Tired of London, Tired of Life - A website about things to do in London

***

***

For more regular updates, visit Tom's Britain, a new website about things to do in Britain.


***

3 February 2010

Visit the Albert Memorial

London has many royal memorials, but the grandest and most impressive is surely the Albert Memorial, opposite the Royal Albert Hall, in Kensington Gardens.


Your author tries to give a bit of variety with his suggestions, but sometimes the originals are the best. The Albert Memorial was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her late husband Prince Albert, after his death in 1861. Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, it finally opened in 1872, but the seated statue of Albert, by John Henry Foley, wasn't added until 1875.

The huge memorial has a range of features including allegorical sculptures at each corner, depicting the Victorian industrial arts and sciences - agriculture, commerce, engineering and manufacturing - and the Victorian continents - Europe, Asia, Africa and The Americas.

For more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Memorial

^Picture by ajagendorf25^

2 comments:

  1. I always thought the Albert Memorial was a bit too classical for its era (1872-5). After all Albert was himself a modern man, interested in design, science, commerce etc. What do you think?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Interesting point, I read that it was considered having a memorial in the form of a Scholarship or prize or library or something but Victoria (who was pretty stubborn) made it clear that she wanted a memorial 'in the common sense of the word'.

    It was her choice, I suppose.

    ReplyDelete