Crystal Palace Dinosaurs
Victorian-era life-size prehistoric sculptures where twenty-one scientists once dined inside a hollow Iguanodon mould.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs in London centers on New Year's Eve 1853, when sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins set a formal dinner table inside the hollow concrete mould of his unfinished Iguanodon and invited twenty-one of Britain's leading scientists to dine there. You'll meet Richard Owen, the man who coined the word dinosaur, seated in the place of honour, and hear how the evening's eight courses and toasts made headlines across Victorian England. Look closely at the statue's nose while you listen for a detail the guide returns to.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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