Description of the attraction
Hyde Park - the largest of the royal gardens in London - is spread over 142 hectares between Park Lane and Serpentine Lake, which separates it from Kensington Gardens. Kings entertained here, workers rioted, national celebrations took place, the Crystal Palace, built for the 1851 World Exhibition, stood.
For the whole world, the name of the park is a symbol of freedom of speech because of the Speakers' Corner, in which, since 1872, everyone can speak publicly on any topic. But this is only part of the park, mostly filled with lawns and trees. Londoners play tennis and football here, go in for tai chi, and have picnics.
It would be difficult to imagine this peaceful life in Hyde Park in 1536, when Henry VIII noisily rushed here after deer and wild boars. The king confiscated this territory from Westminster Abbey precisely for his hunting ground. Charles I completely changed the nature of the park, opening access to the general public in 1637. This helped the townspeople in 1665 - a plague struck London, and many fled to Hyde Park in the hope of hiding from the threat.
When William III moved his court to Kensington Palace in 1689, he found that travel from there to Westminster was unsafe. Along the way, 300 oil lamps were installed - this is how the first illuminated road in the country was created. Known as Rotten Row (from the French route du roi "royal road"), this gravelled, straight, wide passage still exists on the south side of Hyde Park and is still used for horse riding and running.
In 1728, Queen Caroline, wife of George II, separated the park from Kensington Gardens by artificial lakes - Long Water and Serpentine. Now the Serpentine attracts many visitors - here you can swim in a fenced-off pool, go boating, admire crested grebes, black swans or Nile geese. Knowledgeable people come to the bridge at dusk to watch bats catch insects.
Major changes took place in Hyde Park in 1820, under George IV. The famous architect Decimus Burton marked the main entrance to the park (in the southeast corner) with a monumental gate, replaced the walls with a light fence, laid new paths and access roads. Now the park basically has the same view in which Burton left it.
Monuments are an exception. There are old ones dating back to that time - the grandiose statue of Achilles (a monument to the Duke of Wellington), the fountains of Artemis and the "Boy and the Dolphin" in the rose garden. Among the new ones - the impressive memorial "Animals in War"; a monument to the victims of the 2005 terrorist attack; the black and white mosaic "Tree of Reformers", reminiscent of the Reform League rallies held here. On the southern shore of the lake there is an unusual fountain in memory of Princess Diana - a looped stream flowing in the granite shores. The original Calm Water statue near the Marble Arch represents the huge head of a drinking horse. And the monument to Genghis Khan by the Russian sculptor Dashi Namdakov looks completely unexpected next to her.
