1.
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is one of the worlds oldest shopping malls. Housed within a double arcade in central Milan, the Galleria is named after Victor Emmanuel II. It was designed in 1861 and built by Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1877, the structure consists of two glass-vaulted arcades intersecting in an octagon covering the street connecting Piazza del Duomo to Piazza della Scala. The central octagonal space is topped with a glass dome, the Milanese Galleria was larger in scale than its predecessors and was an important step in the evolution of the modern glazed and enclosed shopping mall, of which it was the direct progenitor. It has inspired the use of the term galleria for many other shopping arcades, on the ground of the central octagonal, there are four mosaics portraying the coat of arms of the three capitals of the Kingdom of Italy plus Milans. Tradition says that if a person spins around three times with a heel on the testicles of the bull from Turin coat of arms this will bring good luck and this practice causes damage to the mosaic, a hole developed on the place of the bulls genitals.
The Galleria connects two of Milans most famous landmarks, The Duomo and the Teatro Alla Scala, but the Galleria is a landmark in its own right, the Milan gallery and its roof have been acknowledged as an important reference on 19th-century iron-and-glass architecture by Pevsner and Hitchcock. As one can observe today, the roof consists of four barrel vaults that are crowned with a huge dome. Jorini pointed out the accomplishments of this dome with special regard to the large dimensions, each of the roof parts is topped with a lantern. According to Geist, the Milan gallery and the roof were unprecedented in dimensions by previously built shopping arcades, another difference with already existing passages, was the monumental character of the roof at Milan. Jodice, for example, appreciated the monumental spatial effect of the dome, the construction of the whole Gallery was the result of international collaboration. This especially concerned the roof, the ironwork was produced and installed by the French Atelier Henry Joret, the glass plates were made of flat ribbed glass by Saint-Gobain.
The construction technology of the roof employs primary wrought-iron arches in order to support the glazing, by contrast, arcades that were built earlier were smaller and had simpler roofs, the same components were used for both load bearing and glazing purposes. In addition, the roof at Milan was equipped with invisible reinforcements in the supporting walls and this complicated roof is discussed as the unity of four systems that were skillfully combined through characteristic construction details. This construction technology was creative for avoiding visible tie-rods in the spans of the vaults, the historical roof was heavily damaged during World War II. Before that the roof had undergone multiple maintenance interventions, serious problems in the roof were reported in the 1970s and some of them were solved in the 1980s. The roof that we see today has gone through different historic modifications, the Galleria is often nicknamed il salotto di Milano, due to its numerous shops and importance as a common Milanese meeting and dining place.
As of 2013, the arcade principally contains luxury retailers selling haute couture, jewelry and paintings, as well as restaurants, cafés, and bars
2.
Teahouse
A tea house is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. Sometimes the meal is called tea. Although its function varies widely depending on the culture, tea houses often serve as centers of social interaction, some cultures have a variety of distinct tea-centered houses of different types, depending on the national tea culture. For example, the British or American tearoom serves afternoon tea with a variety of small cakes, in China and Nepal, a tea house is traditionally a place which offers tea to its consumers. People gather at tea houses to chat and enjoy tea, the Guangdong style tea house is particularly famous outside of China especially in Nepals Himalayas. These tea houses, called chálou serve dim sum, and these plates of food are enjoyed alongside tea. In Japanese tradition a tea house ordinarily refers to a structure designed for holding Japanese tea ceremonies. This structure and specifically the room in it where the tea ceremony takes place is called chashitsu, the architectural space called chashitsu was created for aesthetic and intellectual fulfillment.
In Japan during the Edo period, the tea house could refer to a place of entertainment with geisha or as a place where couples seeking privacy could go. In this case the establishment was referred to as an ochaya, these establishments only served tea incidentally, and were instead dedicated to geisha entertainment or to providing discreet rooms for visitors. Contemporary Japanese go to modern tearooms called kissaten on main streets to drink black or green tea as well as coffee, in Central Asia the term tea house could refer to Shayhana in Kazakh, Chaykhana in Kyrgyz and Choyxona in Uzbek, which literally means a tea room. The largest tea houses are Orient Tea house or Chinese Tea house, on the 15th anniversary of Independence in Tajikistan, the people of Isfara town presented Isfara Tea house to Kulyab city for its 2700th anniversary on September 2006. Tea houses are present in parts of Central Asia, notably in Iran. Such tea houses may be referred to, in Persian, as Chay-Khaneh, or in Turkish, çayhane—literally and these tea houses usually serve several beverages in addition to tea.
In Arab countries such as Egypt, establishments that serve tea, coffee, in Pakistan, the prominet Pak Tea House is an intellectual tea–café located in Lahore known as the hub of Progressive Writers Movement. Tea drinking is a closely associated with the English. A female manager of Londons Aerated Bread Company is credited with creating the bakerys first public tearoom, Tea rooms were part of the growing opportunities for women in the Victorian era. In the UK today, a tea room is a room or restaurant where beverages and light meals are served
3.
Arts Centre Melbourne
It was designed by architect Sir Roy Grounds, the masterplan for the complex was approved in 1960 and construction began in 1973 following some delays. The complex opened in stages, with Hamer Hall opening in 1982, the Arts Centre is located by the Yarra River and along St Kilda Road, one of the citys main thoroughfares, and extends into the Melbourne Arts Precinct. The Arts Centre hosts a number of Australian and international performances. The Arts Centre is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register, the Arts Centre site has long been associated with arts and entertainment and has previously been home to circus, theatre and ice skating and dance. Coincidentally, as noted in the big top shape, the site was known as Canvas Town during the early years of the Victorian gold rush. After World War II the Victorian government decided that Melbourne needed a cultural centre, after many years of discussion, a master plan was approved in 1960, with Sir Roy Grounds as the chosen architect. Responsibility for the project lay with the committee, established in 1956.
For twenty five years the committee was a consistent force in the completion of the complex. Actor and film director George Fairfax, having joined the project in 1972, was appointed the first general manager of the committee and the trust. As a result, Fairfax played a role in administration of the Arts Centre’s development. Work had begun on the site in 1973, with excavation work not completed until 1977/8. An Academy Award-winning expatriate set designer, John Truscott, was employed to decorate the interiors, during his tenure, Norman Lacy was constantly called on to defend the Victorian Arts Centre Trust and its construction program during some highly charged public debates in the parliament. The Victorian Arts Centre’s management and administration was set up under the Victorian Arts Centre Act 1979 introduced into the Victorian parliament by Norman Lacy, the trustees were appointed by the Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the minister. The result was the development of the Arts Centre management structure during 1981, the Concert Hall opened in November 1982, while substantial work remained to be done on the Theatres site.
The rest of the Arts Centre was opened progressively in 1984 and this signified the completion of one of the largest public works projects in Victorian history, which had been undertaken over a period of almost twenty five years. The Arts Centre is unusual in that its theatres and concert hall are built largely underground. Hamer Hall, situated closest to the river, was planned to be almost entirely underground. However, construction problems with the foundations, including water seepage, budget constraints meant that Grounds design for the Theatres Building, which included a copper-clad spire, were shelved, and a shortened un-clad design was substituted
4.
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is a state in southeast Australia. Victoria is Australias most densely populated state and its second-most populous state overall, most of its population is concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Australias second-largest city. Prior to British European settlement, the area now constituting Victoria was inhabited by a number of Aboriginal peoples. With Great Britain having claimed the entire Australian continent east of the 135th meridian east in 1788, Victoria was included in the wider colony of New South Wales. The first settlement in the area occurred in 1803 at Sullivan Bay, and much of what is now Victoria was included in the Port Phillip District in 1836, Victoria was officially created as a separate colony in 1851, and achieved self-government in 1855. Politically, Victoria has 37 seats in the Australian House of Representatives and 12 seats in the Australian Senate, at state level, the Parliament of Victoria consists of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council.
Victoria is currently governed by the Labor Party, with Daniel Andrews the current Premier, the personal representative of the Queen of Australia in the state is the Governor of Victoria, currently Linda Dessau. Local government is concentrated in 79 municipal districts, including 33 cities, although a number of unincorporated areas still exist, Victorias total gross state product is ranked second in Australia, although Victoria is ranked fourth in terms of GSP per capita because of its limited mining activity. Culturally, Melbourne is home to a number of museums, art galleries and theatres and is described as the sporting capital of Australia. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is the largest stadium in Australia, and the host of the 1956 Summer Olympics, Victoria has eight public universities, with the oldest, the University of Melbourne, having been founded in 1853. Victoria, like Queensland, was named after Queen Victoria, who had been on the British throne for 14 years when the colony was established in 1851.
The first British settlement in the known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay on Port Phillip. In the year 1826 Colonel Stewart, Captain S. Wright and the brigs Dragon and Amity, took a number of convicts and a small force composed of detachments of the 3rd and 93rd regiments. Victorias next settlement was at Portland, on the south west coast of what is now Victoria, edward Henty settled Portland Bay in 1834. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman, who set up a base in Indented Head, from settlement the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, a separately administered part of New South Wales. Shortly after the now known as Geelong was surveyed by Assistant Surveyor W. H. Smythe. And in 1838 Geelong was officially declared a town, despite earlier white settlements dating back to 1826, days later, still in 1851 gold was discovered near Ballarat, and subsequently at Bendigo. Later discoveries occurred at sites across Victoria
5.
General Post Office, Melbourne
General Post Office, Melbourne is a former Post office situated on the corner of Elizabeth and Bourke Streets in Melbournes Central Business District. Originally serving as the General Post Office for Victoria, the building was redeveloped into a Shopping centre in 2004 and is considered an example of adaptive reuse. The location of the post office is used as a point of reference for the measure of distances from the centre of Melbourne. The General Post Office is historically significant as one of the foremost public buildings in Victoria and it facilitated postal communications and letter sorting in the early development of the Colony of Victoria, helping to continue links with Britain and Europe. The stairs and clock tower are city landmarks and have featured in meetings, protests. The building occupies the corner of the Elizabeth and Bourke Street intersection. The design overall expresses classical architecture due to its use of Doric columns in the first level, Ionic columns in the second, the initial building was designed by architect A. E.
In 1859 a design competition was held for a new General Post Office building, the competition was won by Crouch and Wilson, however the government of the time courted controversy by selecting the runner-up design to be constructed instead. Architect A. E Johnson designed the building became the General Post Office. The initial plan for the building consisted of two storeys and a modest tower, construction for this design was completed in 1867. The original plan called for the building to extend north to Little Bourke Street. Due to overcrowding of the building, Johnson designed a third storey. This work was supervised by Peter Kerr of the Public Works Department, a Mansard roof was constructed, giving the building much of its Second French Empire grandeur. The building was the venue for postal and telegraphic conferences in 1892 and 1897 ahead of Federation, in the years that followed the neo-renaissance style building became a great success and a city landmark. There were several proposals for changes and additions to the building.
In 1906-7 additions were made to the Elizabeth Street facade consisting of two storeys and a basement constructed by Swanson Bros, in September 2001 a fire severely damaged the interior of the building. Subsequently, the building was restored and remodelled in 2004, in part to the original look, the ceiling was repaired and a lighter shade of paint was chosen, imparting a feeling of light not present in the former design. The objective of the remodelling was to revitalise the precinct by linking its shops to public spaces and pathways, cafes currently populate the outer colonnade, while other boutique shops feature alongside the main tenant H&M
6.
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League is the major state-level Australian rules football league in Victoria. The league evolved from the former Victorian Football Association, and has been known by its current name since 1996. The VFA was formed in 1877 and is the second-oldest Australian rules football league, initially serving a primarily administrative function, the VFA premiership served as the top level of club competition in Victoria until 1896. The VFA became the level of club competition from 1897 after its eight strongest clubs seceded to form the VFL. From 1897 until 1995, the VFA remained independent from the VFL as Victorias secondary senior club competition and it presently comprises 14 teams from throughout Victoria, eight of which have a continuous VFA heritage. The Victorian Football Association was founded on 17 May 1877 at the meeting of club secretaries immediately preceding the 1877 season. Decisions were made based on a vote of the Board of Management, the five foundation senior clubs in the Melbourne metropolitan area were Albert-park, Hotham, Melbourne and St Kilda.
There was no system of promotion and relegation between the senior and junior levels, with it largely at a clubs discretion whether or not it joined the Association as a paying senior member. The affiliation fee for senior clubs was initially set at one guinea, through the first decade of the VFAs existence, the structure of the football season did not change significantly from the informal system which had evolved over previous years. Premierships won under this method are now considered official. Three Ballarat-based clubs – Ballarat, Ballarat Imperial and South Ballarat – were voting members of the VFA through this time, the two new competitions competed in parallel from their respective 1897 seasons. Because the VFA was independent from the VFL, the VFA had the power to set its own rules, the VFA reduced the number of on-field players from twenty to eighteen in 1897, a move followed by the VFL two years later. The VFA tried reducing the number of players further to 17 in 1908, to 16 in 1912, the VFA went into recess during World War I, with the 1916 and 1917 seasons cancelled and the 1915 and 1918 seasons shortened.
Over first thirty years of the VFAs independence, its relationship with the VFL was, in general, the loss of the VFAs strongest three clubs to the VFL in 1925 firmly cemented the VFA as the second tier competition in the state. Between 1925 and 1929, the addition of outer suburban clubs in Coburg, the relationship with the VFL improved, and a new permit reciprocity agreement was established in 1931. In 1938, the VFA made a rule change by legalising throwing of the football in general play. The change helped to speed up the game, and introduced more run-and-carry play in an era which had previously dominated by a long-kicking style. Additionally, the VFA ended its agreement with the VFL
7.
Greek Precinct, Melbourne
The Greek Precinct, Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, is a Greek cultural area centred on the eastern end of Lonsdale Street in the Melbourne city centre. The area runs adjacent to Melbourne Chinatown on Little Bourke Street, according to the 2001 Australian census, Melbourne has the largest Greek Australian population in Australia, and the largest Greek population of any city in the World - outside of Greece. Economic bilateral relations between Australia and Greece are worth over A$140 million, Melbourne is a sister city to Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city. The Greek Precinct is located between Swanston Street and Russell Street, along Lonsdale Street, in the Melbourne city centre and it is home to many Greek restaurants and Greek cultural shops. Located nearby, on the corner of La Trobe Street and William Street, is the Hellenic Foundation for Cultures centre and the Hellenic Museum of Melbourne. Both the centre and museum are housed in the historic former Melbourne Mint, in March 2009, the Government of Victoria and the City of Melbourne announced that the Greek Precinct would receive a A$3.5 million rejuvenation.
The annual Melbourne Antipodes Festival is held on Lonsdale Street over a week in March, the festival is renowned for its Lonsdale Street Glendi - a weekend-long event that is held to coincide with the Greek National Day. Antipodes brings a weekend of Greek culture and entertainment to Melbournes historic Greek Precinct, the festival features three stages of free entertainment, childrens rides and activities and over 60 food and craft stalls. The annual Greek Film Festival is held in Melbourne over two weeks in September, and has held since 1990
8.
Lanes and arcades of Melbourne
The lanes and arcades of Melbourne, have collectively become culturally important. The Melbourne central business districts numerous lanes mostly date to the Victorian era and as a result of the original Hoddle Grid, they evolved as service laneways for horses and carts. In some parts of the city, notably Little Lonsdale area, among the most notable are Centre Place and Degraves Lane. Melbournes numerous shopping arcades reached a peak of popularity in the late Victorian era, among the most notable include Block Place and Royal Arcade. Some notable demolished arcades include Coles Book arcade and Queens Walk arcade, some of the lanes, in particular have become particularly notable for their acclaimed urban art. The city has several festivals which celebrate the laneways, they are major tourist attractions and frequently feature in tourism promotions, film, ACDC Lane is a short, narrow laneway, running south from Flinders Lane between Exhibition Street and Russell Street. The street was formerly called Corporation Lane, but was renamed on 1 October 2004 as a tribute to Australian rock band AC/DC, the Melbourne City Councils vote to rename the street was unanimous.
Melbournes Lord Mayor John So launched ACDC Lane with the words, As the song says, there is a highway to hell, bagpipers played Its a Long Way to the Top. One month after the renaming, a bolt was erected above. The lighting bolt was removed at a date, the lane contains a rock n roll nightclub called the Cherry Bar. Corporation Lane was chosen for renaming in part because the band filmed the video for Its a Long Way to the Top on Melbournes Swanston Street. ACDC Lane is near Swanston Street, other factors given include, AC/DCs status as cultural ambassadors for Australia, the bands ties to Melbourne, and the lanes position in the citys bar district. Bank Place is a street in Melbourne, Victoria and it is a short, narrow laneway, running south from Little Collins Street between Queen Street and William Street. Located in the heart of the sector, Bank Place is an oasis of heritage pre-war buildings dating from the 1860s through to the 1920s. Looking north, a vista is framed by Normanby Chambers, mitre Tavern was a popular bohemian hangout for many of Australias most prominent artists of the early twentieth century, alongside the neighbouring Savage Club.
Some significant buildings include 12-16 Bank Place was built 1884 -85 for Australias first baronet Sir William Clarke and his son, Sir Rupert Clarkes mistress Connie Waugh is said to have lived there. The Melbourne Savage Club purchased the building in 1923, the building is classified by the National Trust of Australia. Stalbridge Chambers built in 1891 is on the corner of Little Collins, charter House is another notable old building in the lane
9.
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in Australia and Oceania. The name Melbourne refers to an urban agglomeration spanning 9,900 km2, the metropolis is located on the large natural bay of Port Phillip and expands into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon mountain ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a population of 4,641,636 as of 2016, and its inhabitants are called Melburnians. Founded by free settlers from the British Crown colony of Van Diemens Land on 30 August 1835, in what was the colony of New South Wales, it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837. It was named Melbourne by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. It was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria, to whom Lord Melbourne was close, in 1847, during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the worlds largest and wealthiest cities.
After the federation of Australia in 1901, it served as the interim seat of government until 1927. It is a financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region. It is recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature and a centre for street art, music. It was the host city of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the main passenger airport serving the metropolis and the state is Melbourne Airport, the second busiest in Australia. The Port of Melbourne is Australias busiest seaport for containerised and general cargo, Melbourne has an extensive transport network. The main metropolitan train terminus is Flinders Street Station, and the regional train. Melbourne is home to Australias most extensive network and has the worlds largest urban tram network. Before the arrival of settlers, humans had occupied the area for an estimated 31,000 to 40,000 years. At the time of European settlement, it was inhabited by under 2000 hunter-gatherers from three indigenous tribes, the Wurundjeri and Wathaurong.
The area was an important meeting place for the clans of the Kulin nation alliance and it would be 30 years before another settlement was attempted. Batman selected a site on the bank of the Yarra River. Batman returned to Launceston in Tasmania, in early August 1835 a different group of settlers, including John Pascoe Fawkner, left Launceston on the ship Enterprize
10.
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre is the name given to two adjacent buildings next to the Yarra River in South Wharf, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Australia. The venues are owned and operated by the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Trust, the Melbourne Exhibition Centre Trust was created in August 1994 with the responsibility of overseeing the construction and development of the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. In August 1997, the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Trust became owner, the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Trust is responsible for managing and promoting the use of the Royal Exhibition Building in the Carlton Gardens. As a government-owned trust, The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Trust is responsible to the Minister for Tourism, the Melbourne Exhibition Centre was opened on 14 February 1996 and is known colloquially as Jeffs Shed after the Victorian Premier, Jeff Kennett. In 1998 a covered footbridge was erected between the Exhibition and Convention centres, parallel to the Spencer Street Bridge, the building resembles a long shed with separated operable walls.
This allows the space to be split from a maximum of 30,000 square metres of 360 metres long by 84 metres wide into a minimum of 3,000 square metre spaces. The single volume with a proportion of length to width of approximately 2.5,1 was chosen, other than the exhibition space, the building has a basement that is able to hold 1,000 cars. From the main entrance, visitors would be able to see the 450 metres southward vista of the concourse as well as the mezzanine balconies. On the first floor of the pavilion and extending along the mezzanine platform, there are meeting and function rooms which separates the double-height hall. Some have large windows overlooking the exhibition, the Melbourne Exhibition Centre was to be built larger than the Sydney Exhibition Building while still costing the same. The site for the Exhibition Centre was previously the site for Daryl Jackson’s Museum of Victoria, the brief required DCM to work with the partially built concrete structure. Another relation to the Russian Constructivist is the cantilevered structure supported by yellow steel props as well as the metal letters arranged over the top of the entrance.
The building consists of two different roof designs which are angled at different directions and this was due to the intention to create two different successful spaces which is the exhibition space and the public space. By this method, the architects manage to create two different environments, one which is an exhibition space and another is the concourse which is open to the public. Due to the brief that required the building to be constructed in an amount of time and save cost. On top of that, the trusses have to be solid in order to provide isolation from one hall to the next. At the same time, in order to reduce the span, and to stiffen them laterally, the two rows of columns that are located in the verandah are intended to give a subtle separation of the interior and exterior of the building. The blades which are located along the concourse are coloured in a series of Francis-Bacon-inspired colours and this serves as a double purpose of punctuating the linear volume and labelling the halls
11.
South Wharf, Victoria
South Wharf is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia,2 km south-west of Melbournes Central Business District. Its local government areas are the Cities of Melbourne and Port Phillip, at the 2011 Census, South Wharf had a population of 66. South Wharf is a inner suburb south west from Melbournes CBD. Gazetted in 2008 and formerly part of the industrial and shipping area of Southbank, South Wharf includes some of Melbournes landmarks, including the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre and the Melbourne Maritime Museum, with its heritage Polly Woodside. South Wharf is home to apartments, shopping outlet Direct Factory Outlets. A five-storey Victorian warehouse, known as the Tea House, built in 1888, is one of the few buildings survived the redevelopment of the area. South Wharf website South Wharf Association
12.
Victorian era
The Victorian era was the period of Queen Victorias reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a period of peace, refined sensibilities. Some scholars date the beginning of the period in terms of sensibilities, the era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period. The half of the Victorian age roughly coincided with the first part of the Belle Époque era of continental Europe, culturally there was a transition away from the rationalism of the Georgian period and toward romanticism and mysticism with regard to religion, social values, and arts. The end of the saw the Boer War. Domestically, the agenda was increasingly liberal with a number of shifts in the direction of political reform, industrial reform. Two especially important figures in period of British history are the prime ministers Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone. Disraeli, favoured by the queen, was a gregarious Conservative and his rival Gladstone, a Liberal distrusted by the Queen, served more terms and oversaw much of the overall legislative development of the era.
The population of England and Wales almost doubled from 16.8 million in 1851 to 30.5 million in 1901, Scotlands population rose rapidly, from 2.8 million in 1851 to 4.4 million in 1901. However, Irelands population decreased sharply, from 8.2 million in 1841 to less than 4.5 million in 1901, mostly due to the Great Famine. Between 1837 and 1901 about 15 million emigrants departed the UK permanently, in search of a life in the United States, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia. During the early part of the era, politics in the House of Commons involved battles between the two parties, the Whigs/Liberals and the Conservatives. These parties were led by such prominent statesmen as Lord Melbourne, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Derby, Lord Palmerston, Disraeli, Victoria became queen in 1837 at age 18. Her long reign until 1901 was mainly a time of peace, Britain reached the zenith of its economic, political and cultural power. The era saw the expansion of the second British Empire, Historians have characterised the mid-Victorian era as Britains Golden Years.
There was prosperity, as the income per person grew by half. There was peace abroad, and social peace at home, opposition to the new order melted away, says Porter. The Chartist movement peaked as a movement among the working class in 1848, its leaders moved to other pursuits, such as trade unions
