Hyde Park (London)

Hyde Park is a park in London which Henry VIII in 1536 appropriated as a hunting ground. For 1536 it was owned by Westminster Abbey . It is one of the Royal Parks of London, is owned by the British royal family .

The park is named after Anna Hyde . It has a rectangular shape and is 140 acres in size. It is surrounded by the bridle Rotten Row. In the middle lies the Serpentine Lake,a serpentine lake where in summer rowboats, small sailboats and sometimes find swimmers. The lake extends to the adjacent Kensington Gardens . South of here is thememorial fountain for Princess Diana, a fountain in the shape of an oval ring of stone, on 6 July 2004 was opened. There are found several other memorials, the Holocaust Memorial and the Hudson Memorial.

For children there are playgrounds; The Serpentine Road is used by skaters .

Regularly there are rock concerts, sporting events and cultural events such as Live 8 in 2005 and the outer portion of the Last Night of the Proms . Between 1968 and 1976 there were again in the summer months, free performances of known and debut pop groups, called Hyde Park Free Concerts series.

The Speakers' Corner is located on the corner on the eastern side of the park, near Marble Arch. Here every Sunday soapbox speeches instead. Anyone who proclaim something to stand on a soapbox and gives his opinion on all kinds of serious and less serious subjects such as Europe, soccer, hunting, politics, religion, etc.

On the initiative of Prince Albert was in 1851 the first in Hyde Park World Expo held. Joseph Paxton built Crystal Palace, a building of steel and glass which was the inspiration for include the Amsterdam Palace of Industry .

In 2012 it took part triathlon place for the Summer Olympics .