Confident that you are the best in the world, the natural reaction is to show off your talents. In the mid-nineteenth century, Britain's success in engineering, inventing, science and the arts was displayed during the Great Exhibition of 1851. It was housed in The Crystal Palace built by Joseph Paxton who was also known for his work at Chatsworth house.
The Great Exhibition was put together in a very short time. It was the idea Henry Cole, a member of the Society of Arts, but took off when it gained support from Sir Robert Peel. Once Cole got Prince Albert’s backing and royal consent in January 1850, he encouraged the belief that it had been the Prince’s idea, as a way of attracting exhibitors and visitors.
Visitors were treated to 100,000 exhibits from around the world. Displays included industrial inventions, medical artefacts, labour-saving devices, arts, such as photography, and all kinds of novelties. Visitors could look at tinned foods, a stuffed elephant and a locomotive, as well as the massive Koh-I-Noor diamond and an envelope-folding machine. Jean Bernard Léon Foucault hung a pendulum from the roof to demonstrate the rotation of the earth.
Although the Crystal Palace burned down in 1936 but the Great Exhibition left several legacies. The building’s nickname lives on as the name of the area where it stood for over 80 years and a London football club. The money from the Exhibition was used, along with public money, to buy land in South Kensington. This would later become the site for the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Royal Albert Hall.
http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-london/the-great-exhibition
