Crystal Palace Dinosaurs (nonfiction): Difference between revisions
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[[File:Sydenham_studio_dinosaurs.jpg|thumb|]]The '''Crystal Palace Dinosaurs''', also known as '''Dinosaur Court''', are a series of sculptures of extinct animals (including dinosaurs) and mammals in Crystal Palace Park, now in the London borough of Bromley. | [[File:Sydenham_studio_dinosaurs.jpg|thumb|The dinosaur models under construction at Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins' studio in Sydenham, c. 1853.]]The '''Crystal Palace Dinosaurs''', also known as '''Dinosaur Court''', are a series of sculptures of extinct animals (including dinosaurs) and mammals in Crystal Palace Park, now in the London borough of Bromley. | ||
Commissioned in 1852 to accompany the Crystal Palace after its move from the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park and unveiled in 1854, they were the first dinosaur sculptures in the world, pre-dating the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by six years. While to varying degrees inaccurate by modern standards, the models were designed and sculpted by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins under the scientific direction of Sir Richard Owen, representing the latest scientific knowledge at the time. | Commissioned in 1852 to accompany the Crystal Palace after its move from the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park and unveiled in 1854, they were the first dinosaur sculptures in the world, pre-dating the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by six years. While to varying degrees inaccurate by modern standards, the models were designed and sculpted by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins under the scientific direction of Sir Richard Owen, representing the latest scientific knowledge at the time. | ||
Latest revision as of 16:17, 27 December 2016
The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, also known as Dinosaur Court, are a series of sculptures of extinct animals (including dinosaurs) and mammals in Crystal Palace Park, now in the London borough of Bromley.
Commissioned in 1852 to accompany the Crystal Palace after its move from the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park and unveiled in 1854, they were the first dinosaur sculptures in the world, pre-dating the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by six years. While to varying degrees inaccurate by modern standards, the models were designed and sculpted by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins under the scientific direction of Sir Richard Owen, representing the latest scientific knowledge at the time.
The models represent fifteen genera of extinct animals, not all dinosaurs. They are from a wide range of geological ages, and include true dinosaurs, ichthyosaurs, and plesiosaurs mainly from the Mesozoic era, and some mammals from the more recent Cenozoic era.
On 31 December 1853, a dinner party was held inside the mold used to make the Iguanodon.
In the News
New Year's Eve, 1853: Banquet held in the mould of the Crystal Palace Iguanodon.
Fiction cross-reference
Nonfiction cross-reference
External links:
- Crystal Palace Dinosaurs @ Wikipedia