Immediately wants to see if this park can be part of a trip to London next year. Thank you for this essay. I enjoyed reading it, and it makes me want to take a trip, if only to see this.
> the other of the famous 1853 New Year’s dinner for scientists inside the half-finished Iguanodon
Funny. I don't know where it was, some book I think, but there was a cartoon of that dinner which I saw as a child. I would not have remembered that cartoon, less so known what it was depicting, had I not now read this. I recognized it by the description.
As an artist kid, one of my favorite things about the Field Museum in Chicago— I mean, apart from the fact that you could go there and just gape at EVERYTHING from gems to mummies— was the taxidermy animal exhibits. Not only were the animasl cool, the exhibits often included another species that was very much alive: art students.
It was fun to watch them sketching the animals. Layers within layers of education, art, and partaking thereof. These dinosaurs must have offered such an interesting opportunity to visitors for people-watching as well as early paleontology!
Fascinating stuff. It would be interesting to compare these dinosaurs to the current accepted versions of the ones they are supposed to represent, and see how much Hawkins got it wrong.
Immediately wants to see if this park can be part of a trip to London next year. Thank you for this essay. I enjoyed reading it, and it makes me want to take a trip, if only to see this.
It's worth visiting, definitely.
You can see where the Crystal Palace itself burned down in the thirties.
Ooo interesting. I have made a note to consider this for a future trip
> the other of the famous 1853 New Year’s dinner for scientists inside the half-finished Iguanodon
Funny. I don't know where it was, some book I think, but there was a cartoon of that dinner which I saw as a child. I would not have remembered that cartoon, less so known what it was depicting, had I not now read this. I recognized it by the description.
https://blog.geolsoc.org.uk/2021/04/15/the-first-dinosaurs-dinner/
It was a different one :) A childish one, in a children's book.
Very interesting and thoughtful essay, Robert. I used to love going there as a kid, when of course dinosaurs really make an impact on the imagination.
Interesting that there are similar (but much smaller) dino-scuplture parks within public spaces in other places I've lived: Los Angeles and Barcelona.
Thank you.
As an artist kid, one of my favorite things about the Field Museum in Chicago— I mean, apart from the fact that you could go there and just gape at EVERYTHING from gems to mummies— was the taxidermy animal exhibits. Not only were the animasl cool, the exhibits often included another species that was very much alive: art students.
It was fun to watch them sketching the animals. Layers within layers of education, art, and partaking thereof. These dinosaurs must have offered such an interesting opportunity to visitors for people-watching as well as early paleontology!
Fascinating stuff. It would be interesting to compare these dinosaurs to the current accepted versions of the ones they are supposed to represent, and see how much Hawkins got it wrong.
This might interest you:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-68341196