The Victoria Memorial is a monument to Queen Victoria, located at the end of The Mall in London, and designed and executed by the sculptor Sir Thomas Brock. Designed in 1901, it was unveiled on 16 May 1911, though it was not completed until 1924. It was the centrepiece of an ambitious urban planning scheme, which included the creation of the Queen’s Gardens to a design by Sir Aston Webb, and the refacing of Buckingham Palace (which stands behind the memorial) by the same architect.
Like the earlier Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, commemorating Victoria’s consort, the Victoria Memorial has an elaborate scheme of iconographic sculpture. The central pylon of the memorial is of Pentelic marble, and individual statues are in Carrara marble and gilt bronze. The memorial weighs 2,300 tonnes and is 104 ft wide.In 1970 it was listed at Grade I.
The Queen Victoria Memorial is located in front of Buckingham Palace and comprises of the Dominion Gates (Canada Gate, Australia Gate and South and West Africa Gates), the Memorial Gardens and a vast central monument commemorating the death of Queen Victoria in 1901.
The Memorial Gardens
The Memorial Gardens were created in 1901 as part of Sir Aston Webb’s overall design for a memorial to Queen Victoria after her death that year.
The formal flowerbeds are laid out in a semi-circular design around the central memorial and are a familiar sight during the many of the famous processions and ceremonies that take place in this area.
The planting schedule follows a traditional seasonal pattern that is repeated each year. Each planting takes approximately 2 weeks and involves up to ten staff.
Replanting of the beds in summer requires approximately 22,500 plants, including geraniums, spider plants, salvias and weeping figs. Scarlet geraniums are used to match the tunics of The Queen’s Guard at Buckingham Palace.
In winter time the beds are filled with about 50,000 yellow wallflowers and red tulips.
