Crystal Palace Plesiosaurs

The first ever life size models of prehistoric animals were produced in the early 1850s by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, and revealed to the world at Crystal Palace in London, 1854. The restorations, although worse for wear, are now Grade 1 listed buildings and can still be seen gracing the grounds of Sydenham Hill. This gallery shows the plesiosaurs, represented by three types, in the exhibition as they appear today (photos used with the kind permission of Chris Crump).

Above - Plesiosaurus macracephalus (left) and Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus (right)

Above - detail of Plesiosaurus macrocephalus

Above - detail of Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus (ichthyosaur to right)

Above -'Plesiosaurus' (=Thalassiodracon) hawkinsi