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In modern times, the Great Exhibition has become a symbol of the [[Victorian Age]], and its thick catalogue illustrated with steel engravings is a primary source for High Victorian design.<ref>A copy of the Illustrated Catalogue is available on Google books at http://www.google.com/books?id=OfMHAAAAQAAJ&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0</ref>
In modern times, the Great Exhibition has become a symbol of the [[Victorian Age]], and its thick catalogue illustrated with steel engravings is a primary source for High Victorian design.<ref>A copy of the Illustrated Catalogue is available on Google books at http://www.google.com/books?id=OfMHAAAAQAAJ&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0</ref>


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== Notable exhibits ==
Exhibits came, not only from throughout Britain, but also its expanding imperial colonies, such as [[Australia]], [[India]] and [[New Zealand]], and foreign countries, such as [[Denmark]], [[France]] and [[Switzerland]]. Numbering 13,000 in total, they included a [[Jacquard loom]], an envelope machine, kitchen appliances, steel-making displays and a reaping machine that was sent from the [[United States]].<ref>[http://www.victorianstation.com/palace.html "The Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace"]. Victorian Station. Accessed 3 February 2009.</ref>

*The [[Koh-i-noor]], the world's biggest known [[diamond]] at the time of the Great Exhibition.
*The early 8th century [[Tara Brooch]], discovered only in 1850, the finest Irish [[penannular brooch]], was exhibited by the Dublin jeweller George Waterhouse along with a display of his fashionable [[Celtic Revival]] jewellery.
*[[Alfred Charles Hobbs]] used the exhibition to demonstrate the inadequacy of several respected [[lock (device)|lock]]s of the day.
*[[Frederick Bakewell]] demonstrated a precursor to today's [[fax]] machine.
*[[Mathew Brady]] was awarded a medal for his [[daguerreotype]]s.
*William Chamberlin, Jr. of Sussex exhibited what may have been the world's first [[voting machine]], which counted votes automatically and employed an interlocking system to prevent over-voting.<ref>"The Great Exhibition," Manchester Times (24 May 1851).</ref>
*The [[Tempest Prognosticator]], a [[barometer]] using [[leech]]es, was demonstrated at the Great Exhibition.
*The [[America's Cup]] yachting event began with a race held in conjunction with the Great Exhibition.
*[[George Jennings]] designed the first public conveniences in the Retiring Rooms of the Crystal Palace, for which he charged one penny.
*Gold ornaments and silver enameled handicrafts fabricated by the [[Khudabadi Sindhi Swarankar]] from [[Sindh]].
*[[C.C. Hornung]] of Copenhagen, Denmark, showed his single-cast [[ironframe]] for a [[piano]], the first made in Europe.


== Admission fees ==
== Admission fees ==

Revision as of 19:35, 26 November 2010

Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, in 1851
The Great Exhibition 1851
The enormous Crystal Palace went from plans to grand opening in just nine months.
Exhibition interior
The front door of the Great Exhibition
Paxton's Crystal Palace enclosed full-grown trees in Hyde Park.

The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations or The Great Exhibition, sometimes referred to as the Crystal Palace Exhibition in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held, was an international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1 May to 15 October 1851. It was the first in a series of World's Fair exhibitions of culture and industry that were to become a popular 19th-century feature. The Great Exhibition was organized by Henry Cole and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the spouse of the reigning monarch, Victoria. It was attended by numerous notable figures of the time, including Charles Darwin, members of the Orléanist Royal Family and the writers Charlotte Brontë, Lewis Carroll, and George Eliot.

Background

The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations was organized by Prince Albert, Henry Cole, Francis Henry, George Wallis, Charles Dilke and other members of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce as a celebration of modern industrial technology and design. It can be argued that the Great Exhibition was mounted in response to the highly successful French Industrial Exposition of 1844. Additionally, by hosting this exhibition, "Great Britain made clear to the world its role as industrial leader."[1] Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's consort, was an enthusiastic promoter of a self-financing exhibition; the government was persuaded to form the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 to establish the viability of hosting such an exhibition. Queen Victoria and her family visited three times. Although the Great Exhibition was a platform on which countries from around the world could display their achievements, Great Britain sought to prove its superiority. The English exhibits at the Great Exhibition "held the lead in almost every field where strength, durability, utility and quality were concerned, whether in iron and steel, machinery or textiles."[2] Great Britain also sought to provide the world with the hope of a better future by hosting this Exhibition. Europe had just struggled through "two difficult decades of political and social upheaval," and now Great Britain hoped to show that technology was the key to a better future.[1]

In terms of what the Great Exhibition consisted of, Forgan notes that, [3] "Large, piled-up ‘trophy’ exhibits in the central avenue revealed the organizers’ priorities; they generally put art or colonial raw materials in the most prestigious place. Technology and moving machinery were popular, especially working exhibits." Forgan also notes that, "Visitors could watch the entire process of cotton production from spinning to finished cloth. Scientific instruments were found in class X, and included electric telegraphs, microscopes, air pumps and barometers, as well as musical, horological and surgical instruments."

A special building, nicknamed The Crystal Palace, or "The Great Shalimar"[4] was built to house the show. It was designed by Joseph Paxton with support from structural engineer Charles Fox, the committee overseeing its construction including Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and went from its initial plans of organisation to its grand opening in just nine months. The building was architecturally adventurous, drawing on Paxton's experience designing greenhouses for the sixth Duke of Devonshire. It took the form of a massive glass house 1848 feet (about 563 metres) long by 454 feet (about 138 metres) wide and was constructed from cast iron-frame components and glass made almost exclusively in Birmingham and Smethwick. From the interior, the building's large size was emphasized with the inclusion of trees and statues, which served to not only add beauty to the spectacle but also to emphasize man's triumph over nature.[1] The Crystal Palace was an enormous success, being considered not only an architectural marvel, but also an engineering triumph that emphasized the importance of the Exhibition.[2] The building was later moved and re-erected in an enlarged form at Sydenham in south London, an area that was renamed Crystal Palace. It was eventually destroyed by fire on 30 November 1936.[4]

Six million people—equivalent to a third of the entire population of Britain at the time—visited the exhibition. The Great Exhibition made a surplus of £186,000 (£Error when using {{Inflation}}: |end_year=2,025 (parameter 4) is greater than the latest available year (2,023) in index "UK". as of 2025),[5], which was used to found the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum, which were all built in the area to the south of the exhibition, nicknamed Albertopolis, alongside the Imperial Institute. The remaining surplus was used to set up an educational trust to provide grants and scholarships for industrial research and continues to do so today.[6]

The exhibition caused controversy at the time. Some conservatives feared that the mass of visitors might become a revolutionary mob,[7] whilst radicals such as Karl Marx saw the exhibition as an emblem of the capitalist fetishism of commodities. King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover, shortly before his death wrote to Lord Strangford about it:

The folly and absurdity of the Queen in allowing this trumpery must strike every sensible and well-thinking mind, and I am astonished the ministers themselves do not insist on her at least going to Osborne during the Exhibition, as no human being can possibly answer for what may occur on the occasion. The idea ... must shock every honest and well-meaning Englishman. But it seems everything is conspiring to lower us in the eyes of Europe.[8]

In modern times, the Great Exhibition has become a symbol of the Victorian Age, and its thick catalogue illustrated with steel engravings is a primary source for High Victorian design.[9]

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Admission fees

Admission prices to the Crystal Palace varied according to the date of visitation, with ticket prices decreasing as the parliamentary season drew to an end and London traditionally emptied of wealthy individuals. Prices varied from three guineas (£Error when using {{Inflation}}: |end_year=2,025 (parameter 4) is greater than the latest available year (2,023) in index "UK". as of 2025),[5](two for a woman) per day, £1 per day, five shillings per day, down to one shilling (£Error when using {{Inflation}}: |end_year=2,025 (parameter 4) is greater than the latest available year (2,023) in index "UK". as of 2025),[5] per day. The one-shilling ticket proved most successful amongst the industrial classes, with four and a half million shillings (£Error when using {{Inflation}}: |end_year=2,025 (parameter 4) is greater than the latest available year (2,023) in index "UK". as of 2025),[5]being taken from attendees in this manner.[10] 2,500 tickets were printed for the opening day, all of which were bought.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Kishlansky, Mark, Patrick Geary and Patricia O'Brien. Civilization in the West. 7th Edition. Vol. C. New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2008.
  2. ^ a b Ffrench, Yvonne. The Great Exhibition: 1851. London: Harvill Press, 1950.
  3. ^ Forgan, S. A compendium of victorian culture. Nature, 403 (6880), 596.
  4. ^ a b "The Great Exhibition of 1851". Duke Magazine. 2006-11. Retrieved 2007-07-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ a b c d UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  6. ^ The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. "About Us". Retrieved 2008-11-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ a b Newth, A.M. (1967). Britain and the World: 1789-1901. New York: Penguin Books. p. 97. ISBN 0140803041.
  8. ^ Van der Kiste 2004, pp. 206–207.
  9. ^ A copy of the Illustrated Catalogue is available on Google books at http://www.google.com/books?id=OfMHAAAAQAAJ&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0
  10. ^ "Entrance Costs to the Great Exhibition". Fashion Era. Retrieved 3 February 2009.

Further reading

  • Auerbach, Jeffrey A. The Great Exhibition of 1851: A Nation on Display, Yale University Press, 1999.
  • Gibbs-Smith, Charles Harvard. The Great Exhibition of 1851, 2nd edition, London: HMSO, 1981.
  • Greenhalgh, Paul. Ephemeral Vistas: The Expositions Universelles, Great Exhibitions and World's Fairs, 1851–1939, Manchester University Press, 1988.
  • Leapman, Michael. The World for a Shilling: How the Great Exhibition of 1851 Shaped a Nation, Headline Books, 2001.
  • Dickinson's Comprehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition of 1851, Dickinson Brothers, London, 1854.
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 World Expositions
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