The Crystal Palace dinosaurs were something totally new. These would be the first life-sized sculptures of prehistoric animals ever attempted! A wildlife artist named Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was hired to build them.
This was a colossal project. Hawkins set up a large workshop at the construction site, surrounded by “acres of swamp and mud.” But his years of work began with thorough research.
The Crystal Palace creatures were intended to thrill audiences, but they were also meant to be educational. Hawkins described his work as a vast “experiment of visual education” with “educational powers” deserving the full “support of all civilized Europe.” This meant that the sculptures had to be as scientifically accurate as he could possibly make them.