Template:Wp-South Kensington-History

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Following the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, an 87-acre (352,000 m²) area, west of what is now Exhibition Road, was purchased by the commissioners of the exhibition, in order to create a home for institutions dedicated to the arts and sciences, resulting in the foundation of the museums and of the technological university there. The market gardens of the rural area began to make way for a series of hospitals, such as the Brompton Hospital and the New Cancer Hospital along nearby Fulham Road. Adjacent landowners began to develop the land in the 1860s as a result of the transport hub and the general urbanisation boom west of London, and led to the eventual absorption of Brompton and its station into London. It was sealed by the arrival of the Metropolitan and District Railways at Brompton, but for public relations reasons, it was named "South Kensington" in 1868. To facilitate public access to the museums, the railway company built a pedestrian tunnel directly from the station concourse to an exit halfway up Exhibition Road, next to the now defunct Royal Mail sorting office. to avoid crowds having to cross the Cromwell Road. In 1906 the new Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway company opened the Brompton Road tube station in the vicinity, thus adding a link directly to the political, commercial and financial heart of the capital in Westminster, the West End and the City of London, but owing to under use, it was shut in 1934. During the Second World War it was used by the 26th (London) Anti-Aircraft Brigade.

Terrorism in Prince's Gate

On 30 April 1980 the peace of South Kensington was shattered when a group of gunmen, representing an Arab dissident faction, entered the Iranian embassy and took the staff, visitors and a diplomatic policeman, hostage. There followed a six-day siege during which a hostage was killed. The British SAS finally stormed the building, covered by live media from the outside, in a 17-minute operation bringing out the hostages and the one surviving gunman who was subsequently sentenced to 27 years in prison for his part in the offences.