Royal Exhibition Centre - a majestic building located in the park Carlton Gardens in Melbourne not far from downtown. This is the first building in Australia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Next to it is the Melbourne Museum, and the building of the center is part of the collection of the Museum of Victoria.
Royal Exhibition Building was built specifically for the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880. I must say that the center of the building - this is one of the world's few remaining pavilions built in the 19th century for an international exhibition. The first exhibition was a huge success - the first 8 months of work it was visited by over a million people! After her, in 1888, the center held another major international event - an exhibition dedicated to the centenary of Australia's development.
The building consists of a large hall area of over 12,000 sq.m. and a plurality of smaller spaces. The model for the huge dome served as the dome of the famous Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence.
It was in this building in 1901 was proclaimed the independence of Australia, and during the 26 years after that is the seat of government of Victoria. During the First World War in the center of the building housed a temporary hospital during the Second was defeated army camp.
In 1950 there were blasphemous plans for the destruction of the center and the construction in its place of office buildings . Once in 1979, was dismantled a large ballroom, a society stirred up a wave of protests and campaigns in defense of the historic monument . His contribution to this made Princess Alexandra, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, visited Melbourne in 1984 and assigned to the center of the title "Royal" . This led to the beginning of the restoration and transformation of the center into a museum . As a result of the public campaign for the preservation of the Royal Exhibition Building and the idea of making it to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites, as happened in 2004 . At the center of the UNESCO-listed it was taken surrounding park Carlton Gardens . Today, the Royal Exhibition Centre hosts a variety of events such as the annual International Exhibition of Flowers . Interestingly, here are final number of educational institutions in Melbourne . I can complement the description