Event    From 1/5/1851  To 15/10/1851

Great Exhibition

From the V&A website:
"The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations was held in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London. It was the first international exhibition of manufactured products and was enormously influential on the development of many aspects of society including art and design education, international trade and relations, and even tourism. The Exhibition also set the precedent for the many international exhibitions which followed during the next hundred years."

Six million people came to visit the exhibition in the Crystal Palace designed by Joseph Paxton.

The Great Exhibition memorial behind the Albert Hall gives the following:
"Opened by Her Majesty Queen Victoria, May 1st 1851.
Closed October 15th 1851
Number of visitors: 6,039,195
Total Receipts: £522,179
Total Expenditure: £335,742
Number of exhibitors: 13,937
viz. British - 7381, Foreign - 6556
Size of building: 1848 feet by 456 feet
Architect - Sir Joseph Paxton
Contractors - Fox and Henderson"

The Great Exhibition was not only the first such event but it was also the only one to make a profit.

The Exhibition drew large numbers of sightseers to the area. This prompted the equestrian performer, William Batty, to erect an open-air amphitheatre, known as the Grand National Hippodrome, or Batty's Hippodrome, on an undeveloped site nearby, now occupied by De Vere Gardens, shown on this map. This closed when the Exhibition closed.

If you wish to see a remnant of the Great Exhibition go to Floris in Jermyn Street, which is lined with lovely wood and glass cabinets salvaged from the Exhibition. There is also a little Floris perfume museum at the back, and the staff won't mind you looking without buying. And, on a different scale, you can see the Coalbrookdale Gates at the entrance to South Carriage Drive from West Carriage Drive. Created for the Great Exhibition they were moved here when the Albert Memorial was constructed.

2023: Building London drew our attention to another item (a 30-foot Ionic column) exhibited at the Great Exhibition that is now on display elsewhere, in this case in Stroud.  

2024: Londonist Time Machine reported on a number of items that remain from the exhibition, as well as those mentioned above. The ones still in London include: a blade tree at the Worshipful Company of Cutlers; a Book case at the V&A Museum; Cigar cabinets at James J. Fox, St James’s Street; the clock on the clocktower at King's Cross Station; the Koh-i-Noor diamond at the Tower of London; a Safe at the London Silver Vaults.

2024: Keith Wood of Hooked Wit Films has, amazingly, recreated the Great Exhibition of 1851 in VR and there's a Facebook group. This is the first release; work will continue to add further exhibits to the simulation. Primarily intended for use with VR, if you don't have a headset it will enter a fall-back mode using monitor / keyboard / mouse.

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Great Exhibition

Commemorated ati

Buck Hill bastion

This is really an information board rather than a plaque and has a number of ...

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Cromwell Buildings

The Prince Regent (later King George IV) had died more than twenty years befo...

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Great Exhibition and Prince Albert

Designed by Joseph Durham with modifications by Sydney Smirke. Inaugurated by...

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Great Exhibition - Coalbrookdale Gates

From Royal Parks: "The gates were designed by Charles Crookes. Each of the ca...

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Great Exhibition - Hyde Park - entrance

Building designed by: Joseph Paxton First large scale prefabricated glass and...

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Show all 13

Other Subjects

Fakeblueplaques / Society for the Promotion of Historic Buildings

Fakeblueplaques / Society for the Promotion of Historic Buildings

Londonist informs that the registered address of the website, where you can order a plaque, is 118 Hillfield Avenue N8, the site of plaque no 4. We have 3 of these non-plaques still to publish, no ...

Group, Commerce

3 memorials
Whitechapel Bell Foundry

Whitechapel Bell Foundry

This foundry is the oldest manufacturing company in the UK and is still making bells at 32/34 Whitechapel Road. Probably their most famous creation is Big Ben (we thank Alice, a member of a childre...

Place, Commerce, Engineering

4 memorials
Ahmed Ali Kanoo

Ahmed Ali Kanoo

He appears in a list of "World's Richest People," Forbes 1996/8 and as a member of the 'Bahrain Monetary Council' in 1965. A tree seems somewhat inadequate.

Person, Commerce, Bahrain

1 memorial
Selfridges

Selfridges

Department store created by Harry Selfridge. The flagship store opened on 15 March 1909. In 1951 it was acquired by Lewis's and then in 1965 by the Sears Group. In 2003 the chain was acquired by Ga...

Group, Commerce

3 memorials
LEP Transport Ltd

LEP Transport Ltd

From COSGB: "LEP Transport was a freight company established in 1910 in London. The company name was derived from the initials of the three founding partners; Longstaff, Ehrenberg and Pollack."  Mo...

Group, Commerce, Transport

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Kate Greenaway

Kate Greenaway

Illustrator of children's books and poet. Born 21 Cavendish Street N1 (now entirely post-war blocks of flats). She and her family moved to Upper Street in 1852. She worked for London branch of Marc...

Person, Art, Children, Poetry, Seriously Famous

3 memorials
Royal Doulton / Doulton Potteries

Royal Doulton / Doulton Potteries

Ceramic manufacturing company. Began with a factory at Vauxhall Walk, Lambeth. Initially a partnership of John Doulton, Martha Jones, and John Watts, Jones left in 1820 leaving the company name as ...

Group, Craft / Design, Industry

39 memorials
English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts,...

Group, Architecture, History, Property

417 memorials
Westminster City Council

Westminster City Council

The ancient parish of St Margaret's was divided into St Margaret's and St John's in 1727 but it was still run as a single vestry. In 1855 the two parishes were reformed into the Westminster Distric...

Group, Politics & Administration

183 memorials
City of London School for Girls

City of London School for Girls

EC4, Carmelite Street

Site of the City of London School for Girls founded by William Ward, 1894 to 1969. City of London

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator