Читать книгу The Times Great Events - Группа авторов - Страница 20
Оглавление2 May 1851
The inauguration of the Temple of the Industry of the World, an edifice as unexampled in its magnitude and materials as for the purposes to which it is applied and the collection it displays, will render yesterday for ever memorable as a great epoch in the progress of civilization. Erected at the exclusive cost and by the spontaneous subscription of the British people, it has been dedicated to the celebration of the triumphs of the useful arts throughout the globe. Its portals have been thrown open, without restriction or limit, to all nations, invited to meet there in amicable rivalry and on equal terms – an invitation which has been responded to in a spirit correspondent with that in which it was given. From the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, from the ardour of the tropics and the rigour of the poles, thousands have come to present their offerings at the common shrine – trophies collected in the victories of mind over matter – rich spoils carried away by man in his conquests over nature. The prisoners who follow the triumphal car of the victor are here the elements themselves, brought into subjection to the indomitable sway of the human will. Nothing in nature is so stubborn or intractable as to resist this power. The lightning dares no longer strike. It glides innocuous along a prescribed path, and is made to pass, as though in mockery of its impotence, over the objects which, being uncontrolled, it would have reduced to ruin. The wind and tide no longer obstruct the vessel which advances triumphantly against their force. Space and time are annihilated, and intelligence flies instantaneously between man and man at any distance, however great. Let those who take pleasure in such reflections, and delight to observe the means by which these and numerous other miracles of art are wrought, accompany us to the Crystal Palace, where they will find in every object a fruitful source of wonder and admiration. It will be our part from day to day to point out what is most worthy of attention, to explain and illustrate what may seem obscure, and to supply those links in the chain of useful and elevating information which may not always be suggested by the objects exhibited.
The Great Exhibition was conceived as a showcase primarily for British industry and design in response to similar events staged by the French. Its chief proponents were Prince Albert and Henry Cole, a civil servant with a keen interest in the arts who is said to have been the first person to have sent out Christmas cards.
Designed by Joseph Paxton, and overseen by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the Crystal Palace that housed the exhibition was manufactured and erected in just nine months on the Knightsbridge side of Hyde Park, London. It was 1848 feet (563 metres) long and 454 feet (138 metres) wide and the 100,000 exhibits within it included the Koh-i-Noor diamond, Samuel Colt’s new Navy revolver and the world’s largest penknife, which was 22 inches (55.8 centimetres) thick and had 75 blades.
More than six million people visited the exhibition, some of them spending a penny to use the world’s first pay lavatories. Profits from the show were used to build the South Kensington museums, including the Victoria & Albert and the Albert Hall. The Crystal Palace was later moved to the area of south-east London to which it gave its name, only to be destroyed by fire in 1936.
