London

Directly across the street from Royal Albert Hall (one of London’s most celebrated concert venues) is the 176 feet tall Albert Memorial. Opened in 1872, the memorial was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her husband Prince Albert, who had died of typhoid a decade earlier. Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, the statue features a gold statue of an enthroned Prince Albert and facing south, forever gazing upon his Royal Albert Hall. At each corner of the Albert Memorial is a sculptural group representing the geographic ends of the British Empire: Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas with ethnographic figures and large animals identified with the four continents. At the southern entrance of Kensington Gardens (and not far at all from Hyde Park), this ornate and stately Gothic revival memorial adds a touch of grandeur to Kensington and is well worth a visit in its own right.