Crystal Palace Park - London

Crystal Palace Park is a Victorian pleasure ground used for many cultural, patriotic and sporting events. Below are pictures I took during a Sunday walk. It includes one of the highest points in London, 367 feet (112 m). Two television transmitter masts make the district a landmark location, visible from many parts of the London area.

The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. Following the success of the exhibition, the palace was moved and reconstructed in 1854 in a modified and enlarged form in the grounds of the Penge Place estate at Sydenham Hill.

Italian Terraces: The retaining wall, steps and other features of both upper and lower terraces survive largely intact and are Grade II listed. There were statues on each of the plinths depicting the national dress from countries of the Empire, of which one remains intact. The Sphinxes on the Upper Terraces were copied from an Egyptian original in the Louvre and are made of a brick shell.

Two TV transmitter towers — Crystal Palace Transmitter (640ft) and Croydon Transmitter (500ft) — stand on the hill at Upper Norwood, making the district a landmark location, visible from many parts of the London area. The towers may appear similar in height and design, but the Crystal Palace mast, constructed 1956, stands on a slightly higher elevation.

The current Croydon tower was built in 1962.

All pictures taken by Trojan Gayle