The Suitcase Diaries: The Royal Albert Hall

Since its opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the worlds leading artists from every kind of performance genre have appeared on stage at the Royal Albert Hall, arguably the most famous entertainment venue in the world.

Well over a million people each year attend events at the Hall.

To understand how the Hall came into being, we need to journey back to 1851 and "THE GREAT EXHIBITION OF THE WORKS AND INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS" which was masterminded by Prince Albert, consort to Queen Victoria and Henry Cole.

It took place in Hyde Park in the purpose built, but temporary, Crystal Palace. Designed by Sir Joseph Paxton this enormous glass house was home to an "international trade show" whose purpose was to showcase new and innovative ideas from around the world in the field of arts, industry and science.

It ran from 1 May to 15 October and during that time attracted over 6 million visitors. At the end of the exhibition and after the Crystal Palace had been dismantled, it was clear to Prince Albert and Henry Cole that the public had an appetite for culture and world achievements and so it was decided to invest the profits in a more permanent venue.

A year later, in 1852, using 150 000 pounds from the profits of the exhibition together with a government grant of 177 000 pounds, the 35 hectare Gore estate - opposite Hyde Park in the area now know as South Kensington - was purchased so that a complex of public buildings devoted to the arts and sciences could be built. Among them would be the Central Hall.

Sadly, Albert did not live to see the realisation of his dream, on 14 December 1861, aged just 42, he died suddenly of typhoid fever. Queen Victoria was convinced that he had caught the fever as a result of spending so much time on the projects taking place at Gore Estate.

Prince Albert worked tirelessly on the formal gardens and the glass pavilion, which would be home to the Horticultural Society Gardens and which would form the centre piece of his very own "Albertopolis".

The Queen mourned her great love for the rest of her life and famously always wore black until her own death 40 years later.

Despite the tragedy and undeterred by the loss of funding, Henry Cole, insisted that work should continue and that of prime importance should be the Central Hall. Having travelled throuhgout Europe, Cole took inspiration for its design from the amphitheatres of southern France. He charged his friend and royal engineer, Francis Fowke, with its design and building.

Fowke had been responsible for the design of the glasshouse for the Botanical Gardens and had also worked with Cole on early designs for the South Kensington Museum, later to become the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Today the full extent of Prince Albert's vision can clearly be seen. On the land purchased in 1852 stands not only the Royal Albert Hall, but the Royal collages of Art, Music and Organists, the Royal Geographical Society, the Imperial College and the Natural History, Science and Victoria and Albert Museums.

Dominating the space behind the stage is the organ. Built in conjunction with the Hall and designed by Henry Willis, "The Voice of Jupetir" is over 21 meters high, nearly 20 meters wide and weighs 135 tons. With 9999 pipes, which is put together end to end would extend nearly 15 kilometers, it was, at the time it was built, the largest pipe organ in the world.

After a major refurbishment, today it can regularly be heard throughout the year in various classical music concerts and specific organ recitals as well as the occasional rock or pop concert.

The iron dome together with the glazing and the aluminium roof weighs just over 800 tons. It can support 158 tons of snow.

Near the buildings completion the acoustics were tested and a terrible echo was discovered. The first attempt to solve this problem was to hang a calico cloth called a velarium from beneath the dome to absorb the sound. Whilst this was effective to a certain extent, the echo still remained.

As late as 1949 the inner glass roof panels were replaced with fluted aluminium filled sound deadening rock wool. The velarium was then lowered and removed. It took eight large vacuum cleaners a day and a half to remove a ton of dust from the cloth that had accumulated over the years. The dust may have gone but the echo still remained.

The final solution to the echo came in 1969 when 135 acoustic diffusing discs, shaped like mushrooms and filled with glass fibre wool, were hung from the dome. They allowed sound to be bounced back down into the auditorium and effectively removed the echo.

Today there are just 85 "mushrooms" to ensure that for a building of its shape and size, the acoustics of the Hall are as good as they can possibly be.