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December 04, 2012

The Great Exhibition of 1851

Dear NI1 students,

As we're reading about Victorian time in England, let's have a look at the exhibition that took place in 1851 in London. As you may already know, there is a painting of such exhibition and the opening ceremony by Queen Victoria at the Juan March Exhibition in C/Castellรณ, 77.

In 1851 Great Britain was arguably the leader of the  industrial revolution and feeling very secure in that ideal. The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London was conceived to symbolize this industrial, military and economic superiority of Great Britain.  Just representing the feats of Britain itself would have excluded many of the technological achievements pioneered by the British in its many colonies and protectorates, so it was decided to make the exhibit truly international with invitations being extended to almost all of the colonized world. The British also felt that it was important to show their achievements right alongside those of "less civilized" countries. 

2 comments:

Unknown said...

It´s a wonderful video. It must have been a great exhibition. The buildings and fountains in Hyde Park were very nice.
Are they there still?
Patricia y Manuel

Unknown said...

Hey, that's a good question.

After the Great Exhibition closed, the Crystal Palace was moved to Sydenham Hill in South London and reconstructed in a 200 acre Victorian theme park. The new Crystal Palace park at Central Hall Sydenham was opened by Queen Victoria on June 10th, 1854.

It held very important sports events but the Crystal Palace itself was destroyed by fire on November 30th 1936.