Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens

 

Thanks to Helent for the wonderful card , sent 14.08.2021

    The Royal Exhibition Building was built in Melbourne's Carlton Gardens during 1879 and 1880 for the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition. It subsequently hosted Melbourne's second international exhibition, the 1888 Centennial International Exhibition. It is one of the great enduring monuments to the International Exhibition movement, which began in the mid-19th century.

 

 

Stamps:

$1.10 - Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens

In 2004, the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens in Melbourne became the first Australian UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Site. The building, or Great Hall, is significant as the oldest surviving building in the world from the Great Exhibition era still operating as an exhibition hall.

The building and gardens were designed by Joseph Reed to host the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880 and the Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition in 1888, at the time the largest events ever staged in Australia. The building was the venue for the formal opening of the first parliament of Australia, in 1901. It became a makeshift hospital during the great influenza epidemic of 1918 and hosted wrestling, weightlifting and basketball events in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. As well as the building itself, the stamp showcases an interior detail from the ceiling of the magnificent dome.