What was the great exhibition 1851

The cash profits of the exhibition were spent on establishing a new cultural quarter in South Kensington, sometimes referred to as 'Albertopolis', the home today of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Science Museum, Imperial College, Royal Albert Hall and other institutions. The exhibition also set the precedent for the many international exhibitions which followed during the next years.

Christopher Marsden is senior archivist at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Origins The Great Exhibition grew out of a series of very modest exhibitions of industrial design staged in London by the Royal Society of Arts. The Crystal Palace The greatest challenge the commission faced was to design and construct a large enough exhibition building in a little more than 12 months. The exhibition On 1 May , exactly to schedule, the exhibition was opened by Queen Victoria Gazette Issue , accompanied by Prince Albert, other members of the royal family, politicians, diplomats and a crowd of more than 25, people.

Such initiatives had brought Cole into the Society and, from , developed into a series of annual exhibitions of industrial products culminating in the show of , which attracted 73, visitors over a period of seven weeks. With the support of Prince Albert, the president of the RSA, and spurred on by Cole and Wyatt's report that the French were themselves considering an international exhibition, British ambitions were raised to do the same and a Royal Commission was swiftly established early in to oversee its development.

Although the RSA severed its formal connections with the exhibition as a result, a number of its key members continued to serve on the commission. View all reference entries ». View all related items in Oxford Reference ». Search for: 'Great Exhibition' in Oxford Reference ».

All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single entry from a reference work in OR for personal use for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice. The memory of the glorious past survives today however, as that sleepy Kent hamlet eventually became part of Greater London and the surrounding area came to be known as Crystal Palace.

However it was not until after the death of Queen Victoria that Empire Day was first celebrated…. Related articles. Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria — her life in pictures. Victoria was born on May 24, …. Rise to Power — Victorians. Empire Day. George Jennings inventor of the flushing loo provided the first public toilets in the Retiring Rooms of the Crystal Palace, for which he charged one penny.

In his statue within the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park, Victoria's beloved prince has the catalogue from the Great Exhibition in his hand. Want to see more images from the Great Exhibition? Check out the full book here in the Smithsonian archives. The best things to do in London. The must-read London articles. The coolest London events from our partners. By Zoe Craig Last edited 55 months ago.