A Visit to Dinosaur Court

See a gallery of images from a monument to a time when naturalists were only just beginning to understand prehistoric creatures

In 1854—long before galleries of robotic dinosaurs would become a common sight—artist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins unveiled a menagerie of sculpted dinosaurs that was unlike anything seen before. Constructed with the scientific guidance of anatomist Richard Owen, the massive restorations were placed in what has come to be known as “Dinosaur Court” at Sydenham Hill, South London. The site has become one of the must-see sites for paleontologists and dinosaur fans. The dinosaurs and other visions of prehistoric life Hawkins created are sorely out of date and represent Owen’s peculiar view of dinosaurs as the acme of reptilian evolution. But the site is remarkable for precisely this reason—the Dinosaur Court is a historical monument to a time when naturalists were only just beginning to become acquainted with the prehistoric creatures. (After all, Owen himself had coined the term “Dinosauria” only a little more than a decade before.)

Randall Irmis, curator of paleontology at the Utah Museum of Natural History, visited the historic landmark in 2009 and was kind enough to share a few of his photos from the trip. View the gallery below for a look at the dinosaurs of Sydenham Hill, along with some of the other Mesozoic creatures Hawkins restored alongside them.

Smithsonian.com Shop

The Smithsonian Institution has entered affiliate agreements with the companies listed in our holiday shop, and earns a fee for every purchase made from following any link from these gift guide pages and making a purchase on the affiliate site. This fee helps fund Smithsonian’s activities.

The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex, and the Science of Attraction [Larry Young PhD, Brian Alexander] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. How much control do we have over love? Much less than we like to think. All that mystery, all that poetry

The spectacular sights of the cosmos are now as easy to see as the stars above, with the 18 lavishly illustrated lectures of A Visual Guide to the Universe, produced in partnership with the Smithsonian. Orbit Saturn, search for water and life on Mars, and witness an armada of space telescopes uncovering the secrets of the cosmos.