Albertopolis

Encyclopedia : A : AL : ALB : Albertopolis

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Albertopolis is a nickname for the area centered around South Kensington, London, between Cromwell Road and Kensington Gore, which contains a large number of educational and cultural sites, including

• Imperial College London
• Natural History Museum
• Royal Albert Hall
• Royal College of Art
• Royal College of Music
• Royal Geographical Society
• Science Museum
• Victoria and Albert Museum

and the following, which were originally institutions in their own right:

• Geological Museum, now a subsidiary of the Natural History Museum
• Royal School of Mines, now a subsidiary of Imperial College

Institutions formerly in Albertopolis include:

• Royal College of Organists, from 1904 to 1991, now relocated to Birmingham

The area was purchased by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 with the profits made from the Great Exhibition of 1851, which was held in a site in Hyde Park nearby to the north-east. This is commemorated in the name of the principal north-south street laid out on their estate, Exhibition Road.

Prince Albert was a driving force behind the Great Exhibition and President of the Royal Commission, and the name "Albertopolis" was coined to commemorate and somewhat satirise his role in Victorian cultural life.

There is a central axis between the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens to the north, and the central portal of the south façade of the Natural History Museum. The Royal Albert Hall, Royal College of Music, the former tower of the otherwise demolished Imperial Institute (now the Queen's Tower of Imperial College London) and the 1950s rear extension to the Science Museum are all aligned on this axis, which cannot be seen on the ground. This perfect geometric alignment of Albertopolis can be observed readily from the open balcony of the Queen's Tower (very rarely open to visitors) although the northern part can be glimpsed from the top floor of the Science Museum.

The closest tube station is South Kensington which is linked to the museums by a tiled tunnel beneath Exhibition Road. This tunnel, along with a second twin tunnel (now used as the Imperial College London shooting range), was originally intended as a spur line for a station that would have served the Royal Albert Hall.

See also

• Henry Cole
• Charles Wentworth Dilke

External links

• [Victoria and Albert Museum walking tour of Albertopolis]
• [Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851]

 

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