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It’s been a rocky couple of centuries for the iconic Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. They debuted to a storm of hype in 1854, with Victorian audiences astounded by the life-sized sculptures of dinosaurs and other extinct creatures. But the paleontological community’s rapid conclusion that they were hilariously anatomically inaccurate saw them fall from favour until their first restoration in 1953, when it was generally concluded that actually it was cool that they were wrong.
They were in no way built to last as long as they did, and had begun to look a little sorry of late, with cracks appearing in many of the 30 sculptures and vandals damaging several during lockdown.
But as regular visitors to the southeast London park will know, a full scale restoration has been underway for some time now, and this morning (July 16) mission accomplished has been declared, with the dinosaurs and their various giant aquatic, pterosaur and mammal friends fully restored. Not only that, but where previous restorations have take a variable approach to colour schemes, this one has aimed to have the beasts look as close as they did to when the debuted 172 years ago.
It certainly won’t be the last time the beasts require a lick of paint and some TLC, but it means the sculptures have been removed from Historic England’s Heritage’s at Risk Register. What a joy it is to finally have one of London’s most idiosyncratic attractions back how the Victorians intended.
It’s all part of a massive multimillion pound regeneration of the park – the biggest it’s received since the destruction of the Crystal Palace in 1936. If you’ve not been for a while then the headline attractions beyond the dinos are a new visitor centre and excellent new playground, while if you’re into such things there’s been improvements to stuff like the lighting and the drainage.
If you want to celebrate this then there’s a party all weekend Jul 18 and 19, with dino puppets, drumming and free balloon rides to ballot winners.
The best things to do in London with kids this summer holiday.
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