Royal Albert Hall events in British culture, each year it hosts more than 390 shows in the main auditorium, including classical, rock and pop concerts, ballet, opera, film screenings with live orchestra, sports, award ceremonies, school and community events, charity performances and banquets. A further 400 events are held each year in the non-auditorium spaces. The Hall was originally supposed to have been called the "Central Hall of Arts and Sciences", but the name was changed to the "Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences" by Queen Victoria upon laying the Hall's foundation stone in 1867, in memory of her husband, Prince Albert,
Albert, Prince Consort and built glass building known as the Crystal Palace on 1 May 1851. It proved a colossal success. A surplus of £180,000 was used to purchase land in South Kensington on which to establish educational and cultural institutions—including the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Imperial College London and what would later be named the Royal Albert Hall and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The area was referred to as "Albertopolis" by sceptics. In 1852, John Camden Neild, an eccentric miser, left Victoria an unexpected legacy, which Albert used to obtain the freehold of Balmoral. As usual, he embarked on an