The Royal Exhibition Centre is a majestic building located in Melbourne's Carlton Gardens Park near the city's business centre. It is Australia's first UNESCO World Heritage listed building. It is adjacent to the Melbourne Museum, and the centre building itself is part of the Victoria Museum's collection.
The Royal Exhibition Centre was built specifically to host the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880. It must be said that the centre building is one of the few surviving pavilions in the world built in the 19th century for an international exhibition. The first exhibition was a colossal success - over a million people visited it during 8 months of work! It was followed in 1888 by another major international event at the centre - an exhibition to mark the centenary of the exploration of Australia.
The building consists of a Great Hall of over 12,000 square metres and many smaller rooms. The dome of the famous Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence served as a model for the huge dome.
It was in this building that Australian independence was declared in 1901, and for 26 years thereafter the Victorian state government met here. During the First World War the centre housed a temporary hospital, and during the Second an army camp was set up.
In the 1950s there were blasphemous plans to demolish the centre and build office buildings in its place. After the grand ballroom was dismantled in 1979, a wave of protests and campaigns in defence of the historic monument stirred the community. Princess Alexandra, a cousin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, visited Melbourne in 1984 and gave the centre the title of "Royal". This was the impetus to begin restoration work and turn the centre into a museum. It was the public campaign to preserve the Royal Exhibition Centre that led to the idea of its inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List, which happened in 2004. Along with the centre, the surrounding Carlton Gardens Park was also put under UNESCO protection. Today, the Royal Exhibition Centre hosts various events, such as the annual International Flower Show. Interestingly, it is also the venue for the final exams of a number of Melbourne's educational institutions.
