The
Royal Exhibition Building is located in
Melbourne, Australia. It is located in
the Carlton Gardens, at the north-eastern
edge of the central business district.
It sits adjacent to the Melbourne Museum;
and is the largest item in Museum Victoria's
collection. It was designed by the architect
Joseph Reed (who also designed the Melbourne
Town Hall and the State Library of Victoria).
It was completed in 1880, in preparation
for the Melbourne International Exhibition.
The building consisted of a Great Hall
of over 12,000 square metres and many
temporary annexes. The Melbourne Centennial
Exhibition was held at the Exhibition
Building in 1888 to celebrate a century
of European settlement in Australia. The
most significant event to occur in the
Exhibition Building was the opening of
the first Parliament of Australia, held
in the building on 9 May 1901, at the
inauguration of the sovereign Commonwealth
of Australia.
After
the official opening, the federal government
moved to the Victorian State Parliament
House, while the Victorian government
moved to the Exhibition Building for the
next 26 years. In 2004, the Royal Exhibition
Building was granted listing as a World
Heritage Site, the first building in Australia
to be granted this status. The heritage
listing says that The Royal Exhibition
Building is the only major extant nineteenth
century exhibition building in Australia.
It is one of the few major nineteenth
century exhibition buildings to survive
worldwide. This building is still in use
as an exhibition centre on a regular basis,
but it is no longer Melbourne's largest
or busiest. The modern equivalent of the
Exhibition Building is the Melbourne Exhibition
and Convention Centre, located in Southbank
to the south of the central city area.
However, the Royal Exhibition Building
is still used as the exam hall for the
University of Melbourne.
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