The Centennial International Exhibition

The Centennial International Exhibition

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An image of the Royal Exhibition Building during the Centennial International Exhibition in 1888, from the Illustrated Australian News. The Royal Exhibition Building was designed by architect Joseph Reed and completed in 1880. The round-arched architectural style of the design combines elements from Byzantine, Romanesque, Lombardic and Italian Renaissance buildings (‘Rundbogenstil’). The dome specifically was modelled on Brunelleschi’s fifteenth-century design for the dome of the Florence Cathedral. Conservation and restoration of the building was completed in 1994, and the Royal Exhibition Building received National and World Heritage listing in 2004.

The Royal Exhibition Building hosted two major world fairs in the late nineteenth century: the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880 (for which purpose it was constructed), and then the Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition in 1888. The Great Hall was also used for the opening of the first Commonwealth Parliament of Australia in 1901.

Calvert, Samuel

State Library of Victoria

Illustrated Australian News

15 August 1888

State Library of Victoria

Newspaper Illustration; Hyperlink