The Albert Memorial stands in Kensington Gardens like a Gothic cathedral compressed into a single monument. Commissioned by Queen Victoria after Prince Albert's death in 1861, it took over a decade to complete and cost the equivalent of £10 million today.

George Gilbert Scott designed the 176-foot structure, placing a gilded bronze Albert at its centre, clutching the catalogue from the Great Exhibition he helped organise. The memorial's base features 169 life-sized figures representing the continents, sciences, and arts, while a frieze depicts 187 notable artists, poets, and composers. Albert himself initially refused a knighthood, preferring to remain simply "the Prince Consort."

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours explore the memorial as a monument to Victorian ambition and grief, revealing how it became the centrepiece of "Albertopolis," the cultural quarter Albert envisioned that now includes the Royal Albert Hall and the great museums of South Kensington.