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, Engineering, Commerce and Agriculture, and at the outer corners of the steps are other groups symbolizing the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and America.