Seven Secrets Of The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs

The world-famous Crystal Palace Dinosaurs are one of London’s quirkiest and most fascinating historical sights.

The striking Victorian models were the first ever full scale statues of extinct animals and are invaluable both historically and scientifically, but also for the entertainment value they have provided over the last 150 years.

Let’s get into the story behind them.

The History

In 1854, Crystal Palace Park, previously known as Penge Place, became a Victorian pleasure ground. It all centred around the magnificent, glittering Crystal Palace, moved from Hyde Park after hosting the Great Exhibition in 1851.

The Crystal Palace held concerts, exhibits and displayed artworks to show off Britain’s place at the forefront of technology, industry and culture. The Dinosaur sculptures were created to go alongside this to show Britain’s pre-eminence in the natural sciences, especially geology and palaentology.

As well as this, numerous reconstructed geological strata were displayed to tell the story of where the fossils came from and what gave Britain its industrial power.

Victorian visitors were even able to explore a reconstructed mine with mineral veins and a cave with stalagtites,

The Dinosaur models were sculpted by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins (1807-1894), working alongside palaeontologist and biologist Sir Richard Owen (1804-1892).

The Crystal Palace itself burnt down 1936, but the Dinosaurs remain in the park and have been delighting visitors ever since.

Here are seven secrets of the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs that you may surprise you!

1. Only 4 Sculptures are Actually ‘dinosaurs’

Of the 30-plus statues, only 4 are ‘Dinosaurs’ in the proper scientific definition of the word: the two Iguanodons, the Hylaeosaurus and the Megalosaurus.

The rest are amphibians, marine reptiles, pterosaurs and mammals.

2. Dinner in a dinosaur

To create a bit of a media buzz around the unveiling of the Dinosaurs, on the 31st December 1853, Hawkins invited famous scientists and other notable figures to dine with him inside the model of the Iguanodon.

21 of the guests sat inside the model and a few more outside. A stage had to be specially built so that the diners could clamber into the belly of the beast.

If you were wondering what was on the menu, the diners tucked into, amongst other things: mock turtle soup, turbot a l’hollandaise, roast turkey, raised pigeon pie, pheasants, orange jelly and nougat a la Chantilly, washed down with madeira, sherry, port and claret.

3. The Landscape Was Designed In A Very Specific Way

The Dinosaur landscape is a series of islands surrounded by peaceful reflecting waterways designed by Joseph Paxton, the architect also responsible for the Crystal Palace. The statues are arranged in age order, starting with the early amphibious animals, that lived around roughly 250 million years ago, through the majestic dinosaurs and finishing with the mammals.

The waterways between the islands then represent gaps in the fossil record, which we now recognise as mass extinctions.

The last in the series is the Irish Elk: thought to have gone extinct roughly 8000 years ago through a combination of over-hunting and climate change. The stag sculptures originally had real fossil antlers, but they had to be removed because they were too heavy for the statues to support.

4. A Misplaced Spike

The models were based on the best science for their time and the artist made them surprisingly accurate and life-like for models created for public display. If we compare the models to what we now think these animals looked like, however, we see how interpretations have changed with new discoveries. 

One such change is that we now think that the spike on the Iguanodon’s nose actually belongs on its thumb. This was discovered roughly 25 years after the models were created.

How the evidence was interpreted was debated a great deal at the time. The two Iguanodon sculptures for example vary and respresent two different interpretations.

5. The Megalosaurus Has Got the Hump

You will notice that the Megalosaurus has a rather prominent hump on its back. Modern interpretations do not include a hump and, in fact, the three fossil vertebrae this misinterpretation came from are believed to come from another dinosaur altogether, known as an Altispinax dunkeri.

For more information on each model and how it differs from modern interpretations, click here.

6. A Half-Finished Woolly Mammoth

In 1855 Hawkins was still working away and planning many more models, including a woolly mammoth that was partially built. This was sadly cut short as, it is thought, the company directors ran into financial difficulties and pulled the plug on at least 14 more sculptures.

7. The Megalosaurus Has Had A Face Lift

It has certainly not all been plain sailing for the Dinosaurs. In the early 20th century the models started to deteriorate and the landscaping became wild and overgrown.

The collection was restored for the first time in 1952 by Victor H.C. Martin.

The models are now Grade I listed and have had various repairs made over the years. Restoration on these unique Victorian models is, as you can imagine, very expensive and must be carried out extremely sensitively.

In May 2020 the Megalosaurus’ jaw collapsed but, thankfully, due to a grant from the Culture Recovery Fund, administered by Historic England, a new 3D printed prosthetic jaw has been created and fitted.

How To Visit

Today, conservation and engagement with the DInosaurs is promoted by the brilliant Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. Click here to find out how to best support these wonderful statues.

The models are totally free and open daily whilst the park is open.

Click here for a handy map of the sculptures and lots of information about how to get there.

Have you visited the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs before? Let me know in the comments! More of London’s quirky history below.