在伦敦现存的历史遗迹中，很少有比亚历山德拉宫更不幸的了。1873年5月，这座位于伦敦北部的公共娱乐、娱乐和展览中心开业仅两周后，就被大火烧毁，只剩下外墙。在维多利亚时代令人难以置信的韧性展示中，它在短短两年内就被完全重建，重新开放时被称为“人民宫殿”，或者更通俗的名字，“Ally Pally”，沿用至今。

While subsequent decades saw the grade II-listed palace make history by hosting the world’s first regular high-definition television broadcast in 1935, tragedy struck again in 1980 when a second fire destroyed much of the complex, sparing once again its outer walls and in this instance the eastern wing of the building too. Although successive repairs and restoration have been going on ever since and are still planned for the future, almost 40 years later large sections of the palace remain in a derelict state.

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