Royal Albert Hall is a memorial to the late Prince Consort Albert and husband to Queen Victoria. In 1851, there was a Great Exhibition where Albert saw the success and brought forward the idea for facilities for the benefit of the public which would be known as Albertopolis. The goal of these facilities would be to promote the arts and the sciences and the plans for it were approved quickly. Sadly, Albert died before he could see his vision come to life, but Victoria kept his idea going. In 1871, the Hall was completed and named Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences. Once opened to the public, it became a great social scene for the time. Symphonies were held, operas sung, theater performed. It was a beautiful place to be and right across the street was the Albert Memorial. Over time, remodeling has been done to keep the structure sound for the times and to keep it in a safe state, but a lot of the original structure remains. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, and even until the present day, it is the place to go to be seen and to show how well off you are. Though the seats in the auditorium are not set up to have other people see you (like in Shakespeare's Globe), they are still set in a circular formation so that you can be seen depending on where you sit. Since it's opening, the hall has been an important place for the arts and for sciences and was built for the people. People who would often walk through Hyde Park were bound to come across the Albert Memorial and right across the street they would have seen this great hall. It is a place to gather and while back 200 years ago it would have been more of a bragging rights place to go, it is now just a place for people to go to experience the joys of the arts/sciences together.