The London Glaciarium

[Image: "Not-ice! Wonderful phenomenon!" A flyer by the Proprietor of the London Glaciarium, 1844, from the National Library of New Zealand].

From the National Library of New Zealand, this flyer announces a "spectacular event," held in London's Covent Garden back in 1844, "in which a model of Lake Lucerne and a glacier of ice were to be thawed. There would be sledges available for women and children," we read, and "members of the Glaciarium Skating Club were to meet and 'perform their Elegant Evolutions.'" Strangely enough, "the event was to be held in conjunction with a four-day cattle show on adjacent premises."
Reproducing the terrains of other nations through simulacra of ice in our streets.

(Via David Lovely).