Prince Albert's Great Exhibition plants the seed for a cultural quarter in South Kensington.

A profit of £186,000 from a single exhibition quietly bought the future of British culture.
The Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park, championed by Prince Albert, generated a surplus of £186,000. Albert proposed using the profits to purchase land in South Kensington for a permanent centre devoted to the arts and sciences. The area that would become known as 'Albertopolis' was born, and among the planned institutions was a great central hall.








