The Great Exhibition

The Crystal Palace’ which is known as the home to the Great Exhibition that was an idea which Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, dreamt up to display the wonders of industry and manufacturing from around the modern world. It took place in Hyde Park, London from the first of May to the fifteenth of October in 1851 at which time, England was experiencing a manufacturing boom. It served to bring together exhibits from around the world. It took the form of a massive glass house, about 564 meters long by about 138 meters wide and was constructed from cast iron-frame components and glass.

In the ‘Crystal Palace’, there were roughly 100,000 objects which were displayed along more than ten miles, by over 15,000 contributors. Britain which was the host, occupied half the display space inside, with exhibits from the home country and the Empire. The biggest exhibition of all was the massive hydraulic press that had lifted the metal tubes of a bridge at Bangor invented by Stevenson. The second biggest exhibition in size was a steam-hammer that could with equal accuracy forge the main bearing of a steamship or gently crack an egg. There were also exhibitions of adding machines which had the potential to put bank clerks out of a job. One of the upstairs galleries was walled with stained glass through which the sun streamed in Technicolor. Almost as brilliantly colored were carpets from Axminster and ribbons from Coventry.

The exhibition was intended to raise the level of industrial technology and design and of course to display production and acquire new and larger markets. In the five months it was open for; over six million visitors went to see some fourteen thousand exhibitors, of which Great Britain supplied nearly half.

In modern times, the Great Exhibition is a symbol of the Victorian Age, and its thick catalogue, illustrated with steel engravings, is a primary source for High Victorian design. A memorial to the exhibition, crowned with a statue of Prince Albert, is located behind the Royal Albert Hall. It is inscribed with statistics from the exhibition, including the number of visitors and exhibitors, and the profit made.

BL (2013) British Library Available from: http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/victorians/exhibition/greatexhibition.html     [Accessed: 21st March 2013]. 

KU Libraries (2013) Kenneth Spencer Libraries Available from: http://spencer.lib.ku.edu/exhibits/greatexhibition/contents.htm

[Accessed: 21st March 2013].