Take a 360 virtual tour around Hyde Park’s Crystal Palace of 1851 – from your sofa
For the first time in 169 years, visitors can take a 360
tour around The Crystal Palace, the venue of the formidable 1851 Great
Exhibition held in Hyde Park – but this time without leaving your home.
The Royal Parks, the charity which manages London’s eight Royal Parks
has partnered with educational virtual reality company, Seymour &
Lerhn, to create the first virtual tour of the historic building, on
location in Hyde Park.
The Crystal Palace was a marvel of its time when it opened in Hyde
Park on May 1st 1851. It was an enormous structure constructed from
glass and cast iron, measuring around 563m by 138m, and 39m high. The
giant building hosted the thousands of global exhibits of The Great
Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, the brainchild of
Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, to celebrate the industrial
technology and design of the Victorian age, showcased to more than six
million people.
And now, on May 1st, 169 years since the exhibition opened, visitors
can step back in time and explore the building once again, using their
phone, tablet or PC. A combination of CGI and 360 photography which
overlays the historic building onto the present-day site, allows
visitors to switch between then and now. Users can marvel at the huge
scale of the site. People can discover intriguing stories as they
navigate: you can find out about the first ever public toilets and the
lady who walked from Cornwall to attend, becoming a celebrity in the
process.
The building was regenerated digitally using The Royal Commission for
the Exhibition of 1851’s archive of plans and images, as well as The
Royal Parks’ historical documents such as old maps.
The Royal Parks was the winning entry to a competition set by Seymour
& Lerhn which invited organisations to put forward proposals for a
virtual reality education resource and built the virtual reality tour of
The Crystal Palace as the competition prize. Ledy Leyssen, Head of
Learning at The Royal Parks, said: “The Great Exhibition opened on 1st
May 1851 in London’s Hyde Park to showcase the arts, science and
technology of the day, yet nothing remains of the structure now. So, 169
years later we’ve harnessed today’s technology to bring the Royal
Parks’ heritage to life, uncovering the park’s past for everyone to
enjoy, especially those who aren’t able to visit in person.”
The Royal Parks will seek funding to further develop the project by
populating The Crystal Palace with the artifacts of The Great
Exhibition.
The tour will also be hosted on the Seymour & Lerhn education platform for schools.
“The Great Exhibition of 1851 'Crystal Palace' was a truly incredible feat of engineering, and we're delighted to see it brought to life on its 169th anniversary!”
