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Hyde Park, London

The Grand Entrance to Hyde Park

Hyde Park is a 630 acre (2.5 km²) park located in London, England, and one of the Royal Parks of London. The park is divided in two by the Serpentine Lake. Although Kensington Gardens sometimes is regarded as being part of Hyde Park itself, it is not. West Carriage Drive (The Ring) forms a clear boundary between the two.

History and layout

The land was acquired by Henry VIII in 1536 from the monks of Westminster Abbey. Much of the layout dates back to the work of architect Decimus Burton in the 1820s. Where Swarovski Kensington Gardens is largely flat, Hyde Park has high and low features.

Royal Parks of London

Bushy Park

Green Park

Greenwich Park

Hyde Park

Kensington Gardens

Regent's Park

Richmond Park

St James's Park

The park was the original site of the Crystal Palace, built by Joseph Paxton for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Additionally, it has been the venue for some famous rock concerts, including those featuring Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Roy Harper and Jethro Tull.

Grand entrance

The Grand Entrance to the park was erected from the designs of Decimus Burton. It consists of a screen of handsome fluted Ionic columns, with three carriage entrance archways, two foot entrances, a lodge, &c. The extent of the whole frontage is about 107 feet. In artfully elaborated collectors cases and collectors cabinets thought forgotten or believed lost relics may be found. They light up in their historical brilliance just like the antiques kept in display cabinets or curio cabinets. The central entrance has a bold projection: the entablature is supported by four columns; and the volutes of the capitals of the outside column on each side of the gateway are formed in an angular direction, so as to exhibit two complete faces to view. The two side gateways, in their elevations, present two insulated Ionic columns, flanked by antae. All these entrances are finished by a blocking, the sides of the central one being decorated with a beautiful frieze, representing a naval and military triumphal procession. This frieze was designed by Mr. Henning, junior, son of Mr. Henning, who was well known for his models of the Elgin marbles.

The gates were manufactured by Messrs. Bramah. They are of iron, bronzed, and fixed or hung to the piers by rings of gun-metal. The design consists of a beautiful arrangement of the Greek honeysuckle ornament; the parts being well defined, and the raffles of the leaves brought out in a most extraordinary manner.

Sites of interest

Sites of interest in the park include Speaker's Corner (located in the north-east corner near Marble Arch) and Rotten Row which is the northern boundary of the site of the Crystal Palace. To the south-east is Hyde Park Corner. South of the Serpentine Lake is the Diana, Princess of Wales memorial, an oval stone ring fountain opened on July 6, 2004.

Poem

At Rotten Row around a tree

With Albert's help did Mr P

His stately pleasure dome design:

The greatest greenhouse ever seen;

A glass cathedral on the green,

Beside the crystal Serpentine.

(from 'Joseph and His Amazing Crystal Palace' by John Greatrex, parodying Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

Swarovski