COLLECTION NAME:
Archivision Base to Module 9
Record
Preferred Title:
Royal Albert Hall
Image View:
Detail of mosaic of The Triumph of Arts and Sciences; showing workers levering stone (left)
Creator:
Francis Fowke (British architect, 1823-1865); Henry Young Darracott Scott (British architect, 1822-1883)
Location:
site: London, England, United Kingdom
Location Note:
South Kensington; Kensington Gore
GPS:
+51.500944-0.177436
Date:
1864-1871 (creation)
Cultural Context:
British
Style Period:
Neoclassical; Nineteenth century; Palladian
Work Type 1:
concert hall
Classification:
architecture
Material:
red brick;
Technique:
carving (processes); construction (assembling)
Measurements:
72 m (width, ellipse) x 83 m (length, ellipse)
Inscription:
"This hall was erected for the advancement of the arts and sciences and works of industry of all nations in fulfilment of the intention of Albert Prince Consort. The site was purchased with the proceeds of the Great Exhibition of the year MDCCCLI. The first stone of the Hall was laid by Her Majesty Queen Victoria on the twentieth day of May MDCCCLXVII and it was opened by Her Majesty the Twenty Ninth of March in the year MDCCCLXXI. Thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. For all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine. The wise and their works are in the hand of God. Glory be to God on high and on earth peace."
Description:
At Prince Albert's insistence the profit from the highly successful Great Exhibition was used to purchase land in South Kensington, familiarly known as "Albertopolis". After Prince Albert's death (1861), Henry Cole (director of the Great Exhibition of 1851) determined to build a concert hall to his memory and, following visits by himself and Fowke to Roman amphitheatres in France, a model of a large oval (elliptical) hall was approved by Queen Victoria in 1864. Before building began, Fowke died, and his designs were taken over by Lt-Col. (later Major-Gen.) Henry Young Darracott Scott, appointed Director of New Works, South Kensington Museum. Scott adapted Fowke's designs for the Royal Albert Hall. The great glass and wrought-iron dome roofing the hall is 41 m (135 ft) high. It was originally designed with a capacity for 8,000 people. (The modern capacity is now 5,544). The acoustics were poor and finally re-engineered in 1969; the building was renovated 1996-2004. The south porch was reconstructed (to original dimensions) at that time. Around the outside of the hall is a great mosaic frieze, depicting "The Triumph of Arts and Sciences". (Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/)
Image Description:
There are 16 subjects depicted in the frieze, in a running band of mosaic. A lengthy inscription runs along the top; the letters are terracotta, 12 in. high.
Collection:
Archivision Addition Module Seven
Identifier:
1A1-FCF-AH-AH-A12
Rights:
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.
Royal Albert Hall
