Expo 1851 London
Albert was agonized about the Great Exhibition. He was a man of incredible vision, and he had the vision to do it, but he was also terrified that it would be a disaster and that the monarchy would be tainted as a result.
Instead it has been a great success.
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations was the first in a series of World’s Fairs exhibitions of culture and industry.
The idea of the Great Exhibition originated with Henry Cole, an artist and inventor. But the man who ensured the event happened in spectacular fashion was Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria.
Albert recognized the value of organizing a massive trade show that would place Britain at the forefront of technology by displaying its latest inventions, everything from massive steam engines to the latest cameras. Other nations were invited to participate.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert rode in a procession from Buckingham Palace to the Crystal Palace to personally open the Great Exhibition. It was estimated that more than a half-million spectators watched the royal procession move through the streets of London.
Six million people—equivalent to a third of the entire population of Britain at the time—visited the Great Exhibition.
The event made a surplus of £186,000, which was used to found the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. They were all built in the area to the south of the exhibition, nicknamed Albertopolis, alongside the Imperial Institute.
A special building, nicknamed The Crystal Palace, or “The Great Shalimar”, was built to house the show. It was designed by Joseph Paxton and went from its organisation to the grand opening in just nine months.
The building took the form of a massive glass house, 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 trees and statues; this served, not only to add beauty to the spectacle, but also to demonstrate man’s triumph over nature.
The Crystal Palace was an enormous success, considered an architectural marvel, but also an engineering triumph that showed the importance of the Exhibition itself.
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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, Britain sought to prove its own superiority.
The rulers of Britain intended to show the world that technology was bringing uplifting changes to society, and Britain was racing into the future, to provide the world with the hope of a better future with the technology.
Albert invited other European royals, and, to his great disappointment, nearly all of them refused his invitation.
European nobility, feeling threatened by revolutionary movements in their own countries and abroad, expressed fears about traveling to London. And there was also general opposition to the idea of a great gathering open to people of all classes.
However many intellectual minds were intrigued by the event: It was attended by famous people of the time, including Charles Darwin, Samuel Colt, members of the Orléanist Royal Family and the writers Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, George Eliot, Alfred Tennyson and William Makepeace Thackeray.
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 (British and foreign), and the profit made.
