The Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne's Carlton Gardens lies just north of Melbourne city centre along the route of the free City Circle tram.
The building and its gardens were inscribed in 2004 by the United Nations as a World Heritage site, one of 19 Australian World Heritage sites and the first Australian structure to receive World Heritage recognition.
World fair building
The Royal Exhibition Building is one of the last remaining world fair buildings which is still used for exhibitions.
It hosted the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880 and the Centennial International Exhibition in 1888.
Historic past
Constructed in 1879 and 1888 by David Mitchell, father of Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba, the Royal Exhibition Building featured Renaissance, Lombardic and other architectural styles with a central dome and fan light windows.
It housed the opening of the first Australian Parliament in 1901 just after Federation, was used as a hospital, and became home of the first Australian War Memorial. Both the Australian Parliament and the Australian War Memorial are now located in Canberra.
Cultural criterion
With its opulent interiors restored, the expansive galleries and soaring dome provide the building's Great Hall with a proper setting for trade shows, fairs and cultural and community events.
The Royal Exhibition Building received its inscription by the Unesco World Heritage Committee meeting in China in 2004 based on the cultural criterion of "exhibiting an important interchange of human values over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town planning or landscape design."
Guided tours
A guided tour of the Royal Exhibition Building is available from the adjacent Melbourne Museum, unless the Exhibition Building is under hire or otherwise in use.
