The Albert Memorial

This morning I went up to London to go on a tour of the Royal Albert Hall. I think it rates as my favourite entertainment hall, with it's beautiful Italianate architecture and great acoustics. The tour leader was riveting - a young man who knew so much about the history of the building.

It was Prince Albert who wished to build a new concert hall and he raised funds through the Great Exhibition. Sadly he died of typhoid (at the age of 42) before the hall was ever built, and his grieving widow spent nearly all the funds raised on a memorial statue in his honour. The Albert Memorial took eleven years to build and the statue is solid brass covered in real gold, which explains why the funds for the concert hall were largely depleted! Nevertheless, Queen Victoria raised funds for the development of the hall by selling some seats in the proposed concert hall to the public and retaining one box for the royal family. Those seats are still privately owned today, although some have since been bought and sold. The concert hall was originally called The Central Hall of Arts and Sciences but when it was opened by Queen Victoria in 1871 she changed the name to The Royal Albert Hall. It only took four years to build and was opened four years before the memorial was finished.

Thankfully, during the war it was not bombed as it is believed that Hitler wanted the building for his own purposes. The memorial was covered in black so that it could not be seen by the bombers, and it also survived.