Albertopolis
Albertopolis is a nickname for an area in South Kensington, London, between Cromwell Road and Kensington Gore, which contains several cultural sites, including
- Imperial College
- Natural History Museum
- Royal Albert Hall
- Royal College of Art
- Royal College of Music
- Science Museum
- Victoria and Albert Museum
The area was purchased by the Royal Commissioners 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.
Close scrutiny of a map of the area reveals that there is a central axis between the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens to the north, and the central portal of south facade 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) and the 1950s rear extension to the Science Museum are all aligned on this axis which cannot be seen on the ground, 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 underground tunnel beneath Exhibition Road.
External links
- Victoria and Albert Museum walking tour of Albertopolis (http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/acrobat_pdf/architecture/tour_of_exhibition_road.pdf)
- Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 (http://www.royalcommission1851.org.uk/Royal)