The park's Dinosaur Court has been given Grade I status

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport said the sculptures in Crystal Palace Park, south London, are of "exceptional historic interest".

The 15 reptiles were created in the 1850s for the opening of the park when the Great Exhibition was moved there from Hyde Park.

The dinosaurs were originally given a Grade II listing in 1973.

A spokesman for English Heritage said the sculptures were the "first attempt to accurately reconstruct the three dinosaur species known to the scientific world in the 1850s within their geological environment".

As well as the sculptures, geological strata and a lead mine that are also part of Crystal Palace Park's "Dinosaur Court" have also received the Grade I listing.

"They're believed to be unique and are clearly of exceptional historic interest in a national and probably international context," Culture Minister Margaret Hodge said.