Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, Sculpture series in Crystal Palace Park, London, United Kingdom.
The collection includes thirty models of prehistoric creatures displayed along a trail near lakes in Crystal Palace Park.
Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins created these sculptures in 1854, making them the first life-sized reconstructions of prehistoric animals in the world.
The sculptures demonstrate the Victorian understanding of paleontology and reflect the scientific knowledge of extinct animals during the 19th century.
Visitors can access the sculptures through Crystal Palace Station, with parking available at the Penge entrance off Thicket Road.
The models feature hollow interiors constructed with bricks and external cement casting, representing fifteen different genera of extinct animals.
Location: London Borough of Bromley
Inception: 1852
Creator: Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins
Part of: list of public art in Bromley
Website: https://cpdinosaurs.org
GPS coordinates: 51.41750,-0.06722
Latest update: March 3, 2025 13:00
London offers far more than Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace. Away from the main attractions, numerous sites remain unfamiliar even to many locals. This selection includes the ruins of St Dunstan-in-the-East, where a medieval church has been transformed into a public garden, the Sir John Soane's Museum with its antiquities and architectural fragments, and Dennis Severs' House, a Georgian townhouse preserved as a lived-in time capsule. The collection features gardens such as Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park and Kyoto Garden in Holland Park, historic buildings like the 14th-century Charterhouse and St Bartholomew the Great, London's oldest parish church. It also covers unusual museums including the Old Operating Theatre, Europe's oldest surviving surgical theater, and industrial monuments like Crossness Pumping Station with its Victorian steam engines. Leadenhall Market displays Victorian architecture in the financial district, while God's Own Junkyard in Walthamstow exhibits thousands of neon signs. Other sites range from the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu temple in Neasden to Wilton's Music Hall, London's oldest music hall, and the Victorian dinosaur sculptures at Crystal Palace Park. Little Venice presents canals lined with houseboats, the Freud Museum preserves the psychoanalyst's London home, and Keats House commemorates the Romantic poet. These locations provide insights into history, architecture, and culture beyond the standard tourist circuit.
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