On the final night of 1853, an extraordinary celebration took place: sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and leading paleontologist Sir Richard Owens marked the finishing of the "Crystal Palace Dinosaurs" with a remarkable banquet held within the belly of a life-size Iguanodon model.
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace first rose in Hyde Park in London, purpose-built for the Great Exhibition of 1851. An engineering marvel fashioned from 4,000 tons of iron and 900,000 square feet of glass, the structure captivated both local residents and visitors from around the globe. Though originally intended as a temporary installation, public admiration was so overwhelming that instead of demolishing it, authorities relocated the entire building to Sydenham Hill in South London, where it could stand on a more permanent basis. It wasn't long before the Crystal Palace Company tapped Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins to undertake an ambitious project: crafting the world's first life-sized models of extinct species.
When Hawkins chose to feature dinosaurs as part of the exhibition, he reached out to Sir Richard Owens, who at the time ranked among the most prominent paleontologists, to help guide the design of the models. Once the creatures were finished, the pair threw a memorable New Year's Eve dinner inside the largest of them — the Iguanodon. Owen claimed the seat of honor at the head of the table, positioned within the skull of the best, as Hawkins stood and addressed the assembled guests with a brief speech detailing how the models had been constructed.
Scientific Scrutiny, Disrepair, and Reconstruction
With advancing paleontological knowledge and the discovery of new fossils over the years, the models came to be regarded as increasingly inaccurate. The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs gradually deteriorated and slipped from public consciousness, especially after a devastating fire consumed the Crystal Palace itself in 1936. A revival came in the early 2000, though, when the models and their surrounding garden underwent extensive reconstruction efforts. A permanent bridge providing access to Dinosaur Island was ultimately completed in 2021.