The Great Exhibition Opens in Hyde Park
Six million visitors pass through a giant glass building built to show off Britain's industrial power
Quick facts
- Dates
- 1 May - 15 October 1851
- Visitors
- Over six million
- Building
- Crystal Palace, designed by Joseph Paxton
- Legacy
- Founded the V&A, Science Museum, Natural History Museum
What happened
Prince Albert and civil servant Henry Cole organized the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, held in a purpose-built glass structure in London's Hyde Park from 1 May to 15 October 1851. The building, designed by Joseph Paxton and nicknamed the Crystal Palace, was completed in just seven months and was, the V&A notes, the largest man-made covered space on earth at the time. More than 100,000 objects lent by nearly 14,000 exhibitors from 34 nations were on display, and over six million visitors from around the globe passed through, London Museum records, equivalent to a third of the entire population of Britain. The exhibition turned a surplus of £186,000, later used to found the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum, and the Natural History Museum.
Why it matters
The Great Exhibition was, London Museum states, designed to present a very positive image of empire to the masses, using industrial spectacle to build public support for Britain's imperial ambitions at the height of Victorian confidence. Its profits went on to seed three of London's major national museums, giving the event a lasting institutional legacy well beyond its six-month run.
How we know
The exhibition's attendance figures, exhibitor lists, and financial accounts were recorded contemporaneously by the Royal Commission that organized it, and the surviving surplus funds and their use to found the V&A are documented in the museum's own institutional history.
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum. The foundation of the V&A's Collections: the Great Exhibition of 1851 · Reputable sourcevam.ac.uk · The domain "vam.ac.uk" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- London Museum. What was the Great Exhibition of 1851? · General sourcelondonmuseum.org.uk · Cited as a "reference" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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