Monuments of Imperialism

This is a map of the British Empire in 1886. British dominions are marked in red, the traditional colour. At its height, this was the largest empire in history. By 1922 it held sway over one-quarter of the world’s population and covered almost a quarter of the Earth’s total land area. It was known as ‘the empire on which the sun never sets’ because its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its territories. The map is surrounded by images of ethnic types and heroic representations of the British soldiers who built the empire. This is a bombastic celebration of British imperial power.

Britain opened up channels of communication with these countries. In the 20th century, Britain experienced mass immigration from these former colonies and this was one of the factors that created today’s multicultural society. Britain now has a reputation for being uniquely tolerant and able to accommodate multi-ethnic and religious groups.

Britain’s tremendous self confidence was expressed in Victorian architecture, which became very strong and muscular. A project that expressed the might of the British Empire was the building of the Albert Memorial near the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park. Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert died in 1861, plunging her into a state of mourning that lasted the rest of her life. She commissioned the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott to design the Albert Memorial, which features a statue of the prince enshrined as a saint beneath a magnificent Gothic canopy.

At each corner there is a sculpture representing one of the continents over which Britain ruled. The Americas are represented by a buffalo and Native American warriors.

Asia is represented by an elephant and other ethnic types.

So the monument is an arrogant celebration of the British Empire. The series of statues around the base eulogise great figures of British culture, including Shakespeare.