London - Albert Memorial

This memorial to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1819-61), Queen Victoria's consort, in Kensington Gardens, was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and unveiled by the Queen in 1876. The Queen had originally thought of a huge monolithic granite obelisk, to be financed by public subscription, but the amount collected was insufficient and the present more modest monument, in the neo-Gothic style of the period, was built instead. Albert is seated under a richly decorated canopy 58m/190ft high, holding in his hand the catalogue of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Around the pedestal are 178 marble neo-classical reliefs of artists and men of letters of every period. At the corners of the pedestal are sculptured groups symbolizing Manufactures