Victorian Awe X Artistic Soar: Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall

 

The Triumph of Arts and Sciences

Around the outside of the hall is

a great mosaic frieze,

depicting "The Triumph of Arts and Sciences",

in reference to the Hall's dedication.

 

Proceeding anti-clockwise from

the north side the sixteen subjects of the frieze are

• Various Countries of the World bringing in their Offerings to the Exhibition of 1851
• Music
• Sculpture
• Painting
• Princes, Art Patrons and Artists
• Workers in Stone
• Workers in Wood and Brick
• Architecture
• The Infancy of the Arts and Sciences
• Agriculture
• Horticulture and Land Surveying
• Astronomy and Navigation
• A Group of Philosophers, Sages and Students
• Engineering
• The Mechanical Powers
• Pottery and Glassmaking

 

The Prince

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 

(26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861)

was the husband of Queen Victoria.

 

A man of progressive and relatively liberal ideas,

Albert not only led reforms in university education,

welfare, the royal finances and slavery,

he had a special interest in applying science and art

to the manufacturing industry.

 

The Great Exhibition

In 1851, the Great Exhibition was held in

Hyde Park, London, for which

the Crystal Palace was built.

 

The exhibition was a great success and

led Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, to

propose that a permanent series of facilities

be built in the area for

the enlightenment of the public.

 

Progress on the scheme was slow and

in 1861 Prince Albert died,

without having seen his ideas come to fruition.

 

However, a memorial was proposed for

Hyde Park, with a Great Hall opposite.

The proposal was approved and

the site was purchased with

some of the profits from the Exhibition.

 

Once the remaining funds had been raised,

in April 1867

Queen Victoria signed the Royal Charter of the

Corporation of the Hall of Arts and Sciences which

was to operate the Hall and on 20 May,

laid the foundation stone.

 

The official opening ceremony of the Hall was

on 29 March 1871.

A welcoming speech was given by

Edward, the Prince of Wales;

Queen Victoria was too overcome to

speak although she did comment that

it reminded her of the British constitution.

 

The Crystal Palace

was a cast-iron and plate-glass building originally

erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to

house the Great Exhibition of 1851.

More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world

gathered in the Palace's 990,000 square feet of

exhibition space to display examples of the

latest technology developed in the Industrial Revolution.

 

Because of the recent invention of

the cast plate glass method in 1848,

which allowed for large sheets of

cheap but strong glass,

it was at the time the largest amount of

glass ever seen in a building and

astonished visitors with its clear walls and

ceilings that did not require interior lights,

thus a "Crystal Palace".

 

After the exhibition,

the building was rebuilt in an enlarged form on

Penge Common next to Sydenham Hill,

an affluent South London suburb full of large villas.

 

It stood there from 1854 until

its destruction by fire in 1936.

 

The Mourn

Victoria never fully recovered from

Albert's death in 1861 and

she remained in mourning for the rest of her life.

 

She entered a state of mourning and

wore black for the remainder of her life. 

Albert's rooms in all his houses were

kept as they had been, even

with hot water brought in the morning, and

linen and towels changed daily

 

She avoided public appearances, and

rarely set foot in London in the following years. 

Her seclusion earned her the name "widow of Windsor"

 

Albert Memorial

right across the road from

Royal Albert Hall

 

Frieze of Parnassus

The central part of the memorial is surrounded by

the elaborate sculptural Frieze of Parnassus

(named after Mount Parnassus,

the favorite resting place for the Greek muses),

which depicts 169 individual

composers, architects, poets, painters, and sculptors.

 

The Private Boxes

The boxes were originally sold on

999-year leases when the Royal Albert Hall opened

in 1871, to help finance its construction costs.

It gives the owner the right to

see most performances.

If they do not wish to use their tickets,

they can give them to friends or family or

sell them back through the Albert Hall.

 

Most boxes are passed from

generation to generation of the same family.

Or bought and sold as a private property.

 

The Standing Places

up to 14000 standing places available

the idea was to provide entertainment equally

for those who can’t really afford a ticket

 

The Events

The Hall has played host to

over 150,000 different events and

has been affectionately titled "The Nation's Village Hall".

 

List of events held:

• opera
• ballet
• classical and rock concerts
• conferences
• ballroom dancing
• poetry recitals
• education & graduation
• motor shows
• marathons
• circus shows
• boxing
• wrestling
• tennis