In 1851 Britain was the workshop of the world and the main influence on the industrialization of other nations. The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London symbolized this economic supremacy. It was unparalleled in magnitude and magnificence. The exhibition was housed in a huge glass and iron building called by a journalist–with a touch of romance–“the Crystal Palace.” The success of the exhibition was political as much as economic. The objects on display came from all parts of the world, including India and the countries with recent white settlements, such as Australia and New Zealand, that constituted the new British empire. One popular attraction was a colossal plaster head, a symbol of Bavaria. Many of the visitors who flocked to London came from European cities.
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was the brainchild of Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, and was realized by Joseph Paxton (the Duke of Devonshire’s gardener). It resembled, on a great scale, Paxton’s greenhouse at Chatsworth and occupied an area of 18 acres in London’s Hyde Park. Its length was 1,848 feet, and its width in the broadest part was 408 feet. There were about 14,000 exhibitors. The Great Exhibition was opened by Queen Victoria on May 1, 1851, and it remained open until October 11, by which time it had attracted more than six million visiotrs. After the exhibition had closed, the buildings were dismantled and moved to south London, where they were re-erected in the suburb that now bears its name.
Exhibitors
Courtesy: The Encyclopedia Britannica
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