the venue

Transferred from Hyde Park, London, after the Great Exhibition of 1851, Crystal Palace Park became the venue for Victorian celebration of the British Empire. Hundreds of thousands of visitors a year came to witness the splendour of The Crystal Palace itself, along with numerous exhibitions, concerts, spectacular fireworks displays, sports events and fairs. Later, motor racing was added to the Park’s attractions, this continued until the early 1970’s.

The Park also contained the world’s first ‘theme park’ consisting of the newly discovered and named dinosaurs. These were constructed to demonstrate the process of evolution - before the publication of Darwin’s ‘Origin of the Species’. They were built at the lower end of the Park, near Penge, and remain there to this day, together with accompanying geological exhibits illustrating the geology that existed at the time of each dinosaur.

Park is also famous for it’s Children’s Farm and Boating Lake (these are currently closed and under renovation) and the Maze.

The original Crystal Palace burnt to the ground in 1936 but the remaining original terraces and their retaining walls can still be seen. In the mid-1960’s, the National Sports Centre was built in the centre of the Park, accessed from Anerley Hill, where world class sporting events and concerts are still held. (taken from
http://www.bromley.gov.uk/leisure/parksandcountryside/crystal_palace_park.htm )