Among the many man-made miracles born of human genius, hard work and perseverance, the Crystal Palace occupies a very special place. After all, it was from him that the attitude towards international industrial exhibitions became completely different.
What could be simpler than "grotto"?
And it so happened that among the seasonal games that were held one after another in London schools in the 19th century, the game "grotto" was very popular. Children searched their homes for old antiques and all kinds of junk, which they then exhibited on street sidewalks, decorating with flowers, shells and stones. They sat down near their "creations" in the expectation that some passer-by would cast his eyes on this, and maybe even be generous with a coin.
Exterior of the Crystal Palace. 1851 g.
These miniature exhibitions (which in fact they were) were not always popular with adult "visitors", especially if they were begging for money, but the "organizers" themselves undoubtedly found a lot of pleasure in them. It was fun to plan the show; decide what to exhibit and where; to collect "participants", and to conduct everything in such a way that it is a pleasure. Finally, when the "stand" was completed, the little inventors were curious to receive praise.
Such a game was very much like exhibitions in the modern sense, because exhibitions are not only collections of interesting things gathered together in a certain place at a certain time. These are also human actions aimed at achieving results. Exhibitions are a form of human communication both between participants and between the public and organizations, and their results can only be obtained through some kind of consistent action.
And it all started with such difficulty …
"It is hard to believe that this was all man-made," was published in The Times on May 2, 1851, and Queen Victoria wrote the next day: "A truly amazing, fairy-tale scene."
Indeed, there was something fabulous about the 1851 exhibition. It's not just the building itself - the magic of the crystal dome seemed to envelop everything beneath it, an aura of mysticism and unreality hovered inside and outside it. This quite prosaic place was temporarily transformed into a shining world of happiness and harmony.
One of the interiors of the Crystal Palace
It all started rather trivially, however, as the first act of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, with the first two modest exhibitions held at the Society of Arts in December 1845 and January 1846. The exhibitions themselves were quite common, but after them the idea was born to interest their participants in organizing something more significant. At a meeting on May 28, 1845, the idea of the first international exhibition was proposed. Permission to hold it was given even by Prince Albert himself, who, by a happy coincidence, arrived on an annual visit to the Society of Arts. Funds were immediately allocated and a venue was proposed - a temporary building in Hyde Park. Preliminary lists of participants were drawn up, and invitations were sent to many cities, but the result was discouraging. Secretary John Scott Russell wrote in his report: “The public is indifferent, some have accepted the offer of participation even with hostility. The committee is not ready to provide material support, the public does not feel sympathy, there is no desired interaction from the manufacturers, there are no people who want to see the path to success. The attempt failed. "However, fortunately, this was just his personal opinion, and even then very soon he changed it, and soon wrote down something else:" The British were not sufficiently familiar with the purpose of the exhibition, their influence on the character of the nation and its commercial development side. Such exhibitions require the participants to be educated in this area, and such an opportunity should be provided. "It is obvious that the organizers of the exhibition did not have the slightest idea about PR work, and this is understandable! By the end of 1845, a decision was made on the prize fund for industrial goods with artistic design The competition was supposed to attract manufacturers, especially since even then the British were a nation of athletes, and the spirit of competition was in their blood.
However, applications for the first prize-winning exhibitions were insignificant, which made them impossible to hold. The question of competitions had to be postponed for some time.
But the first steps have brought certain positive results as well. They attracted Henry Coyle, who was a typical representative of his time. By that time, he had already taken a leading position in postal reform, printed the world's first Christmas card and had been publishing a series of illustrated books for children for several years. Nature has also endowed him with artistic and musical talent. He designed the magnificent tea set and released it under his pen name "Fellix Summerlee". This service was awarded a silver medal, and later in 1846 Russell persuaded him to join the Society of Arts. After such a success at the exhibition, Coyle's service ended up in Buckingham Palace and was put into production in several versions. In 1846 - 1847 there have been other attempts to attract manufacturers by improving quality and increasing the value and value of the prizes. However, this did not help to attract the required number of participants. Coyle and Russell spent whole days visiting manufacturers and convincing them to take part in the show.
One of the interiors of the Crystal Palace
In the end, 200 exhibits, some of which were not of any interest for the first exhibition, were collected. The introductory article of the catalog of the industrial art exhibition summarized all the objectives of the exhibition. In addition to the technical value for designers and manufacturers, the following is indicated: “Complaints come from manufacturers all over the world that the public cannot distinguish between the vulgar, the ugly, the gray from the beautiful and the ideal. We insist that artistry is discouraged just because good producers are not well known … We believe that by opening its doors to everyone, the exhibition will direct and qualitatively improve the taste of the audience."
First steps and first successes
Despite its small size, the exhibition was a stunning success and received 20,000 visitors. A little later, from March 9 to April 1, the second annual exhibition was held. The success of 1847 changed the opinion of manufacturers, and in 1848 offers for participation were poured from everywhere. There were already 700 exhibits on display, most of which were new designs for industrial products. Attendance has grown to 73,000 people.
The third exhibition in 1849 was even larger, every corner of the building was occupied, which made it necessary to shorten the exhibition into several sections. It is finally possible to announce the final date for the next national exhibition, five years after the first annual. This date was first announced in this year's exhibition catalog. The enthusiasm of the public gave the required number of signatures to the petition to parliament to formally support the project and the construction budget.
With the presentation of the petition, the first stage in the history of the formation of the first international exhibition was completed. The Society for the Arts was successful in attracting members and the public, received government support and approval, and even announced a date. All of the above was done by ordinary members of society without any support from its president. It was planned to hold a national exhibition on the model of a similar exhibition in France. But the victory of 1851 was that in reality it was no longer a national, but the first international exhibition. The idea was not new. Already when many proudly declared that even earlier (1833 - 1836 in France) international exhibitions were held. But further investigation revealed that none of the invited overseas participants showed up. However, in 1849, the international exhibition was only a dream, and for Prince Albert and the Society it became a task to be realized.
One of the interiors of the Crystal Palace
Buckingham Palace solutions - to life
In 1851, a historic conference was held at Buckingham Palace, at which the "Great Industrial Exhibition of All Nations, 1851" was born. At this meeting, the main decisions were considered and adopted:
1. About the section of exhibits into four sections: working materials, machinery, industrial products and sculpture.
2. About the need for a temporary building to accommodate all these things, but the question remained open in connection with the further search for a suitable territory.
3. About the scale of the exhibition.
4. About prizes.
5. About financing.
It was clear that there was little to be expected from the government and that funds should be increased immediately on a voluntary basis. It's amazing that all these important decisions were made in just one day!
Then came a period of unprecedented effort. Producers were recruited from 65 cities in England, Scotland, Ireland and Germany. The Indian company, and later Napoleon III himself, undertook to help the exhibition. Even a royal prize was awarded, which further raised the status of the exhibition.
One of the interiors of the Crystal Palace
It seemed that all the difficulties were already over. The result of hard five years of work was not only the possibility of holding an international exhibition, but also the government's approval of the scheme for its holding, support for manufacturers, and financial confidence.
All that remained was to build a building for the exhibition. And it was then that it turned out that the worst problems were yet to come. One of them was financial: contributions came in very slowly. Then one of the members of the Society of Arts, Lord Major, threw a grand banquet, which was attended by all the high society from all over the country. After that, the fund increased to 80,000 pounds. This amount was more than enough for all expenses. But it was hardly enough for construction: this was problem number one.
The location of the exhibition pavilion has unexpectedly become problem number two. An agreement was reached with the Queen on the use of the Hyde Park area. However, this decision did not suit everyone. The Times has launched a vigorous protest. “The entire park,” the newspaper reported, “and the Kensington Gardens, among others, will be destroyed, and the nearby residential areas will suffer from hordes of vulgar visitors gathered on site by this exhibition. But what about the trees? buildings? Much was also said about the pollution of the park, which was a decoration of London. The building design was the third challenge. Back in 1849, it was conceived that this building would become the main exhibit at the exhibition. The Royal Commission approached the building committee. The commission announced a competition for designers of all nations, but only set aside three weeks for it. Despite such a short period of time, the commission received 233 projects, including 38 foreign ones. Of these, 68 were selected, but not one was recommended for approval. Instead, the committee proposed its own version, which the royal commission was simply forced to accept. The project was a brick structure with a metal-clad dome. Closing a huge part of Hyde Park was a bad idea in itself, but such a terrible material as brick threatened to ruin both the landscape and the landscape forever. This posed another problem for the organizers - could such a huge building be completed by the time the exhibition opened (in less than a year)?
But storm clouds disappeared as suddenly as they appeared. As early as July 1850, a solution to all three of these problems was found.
The financial issue was resolved by increasing contributions to the fund directly from members of the Commission. It also became possible to take a bank loan against the guarantees of the Commission.
Location disputes erupted in both houses of parliament. It was especially difficult for Prince Albert to wait for a decision. If Hyde Park had been rejected, then there was simply no other place. But the controversy ended in favor of Hyde Park.
There was less criticism on the building issue, but the problem itself is more complex. The solution was found at the very last minute. It happened so unexpectedly that it was perceived as a real miracle.
Simple gardener project
Joseph Paxton was a simple gardener, but his interests were not limited to this. Moreover, at that time he was famous for his railway project and glass structure. It so happened that he had to speak with British Prime Minister Ellis, and in this conversation he told him about his idea. And Ellis was familiar with Paxton's works and knew that they deserve attention. Therefore, the Prime Minister turned to the Chamber of Commerce to clarify the conditions for considering the new project. There were almost none, there were only a few days left, during which it was possible to make adjustments to the official project or submit a new one. And Paxton decided to use the opportunity presented to him. He devoted all weekend to working on the project. At the meeting of the railway committee, his thoughts were far from the topic of the meeting. On the other hand, a "crude" drawing of what later became known as the "Crystal Palace" appeared on a piece of paper. Its design was admired by almost everyone, but it meant shame for the royal commission, since their project had already been approved by the building committee. Paxton's fantastic structure could not be accepted without technical expertise, for which an investigation was supposed to be carried out by the same construction committee, which could not so easily question its reputation. The Society for the Arts helped Paxton obtain information about the height of the trees so that they could fully enter the building. This made his project environmentally invaluable, but this is precisely what the engineers on the committee could not forgive him.
Time passed, but there was still no answer from him. Paxton got tired of this, he decided to appeal directly to the nation. On July 6, 200,000 copies of Illustrated London News, which had horrified the country somewhat earlier with drawings of the official building design, now presented Paxton's development, along with an explanatory note. People immediately accepted his project as a magnificent and one-of-a-kind temporary structure for Hyde Park.
The Times was still against any invasion of the park and called the project the "Monstrous Green House." But the committee could not oppose universal approval and admiration.
Paxton won. Again, only a lucky chance helped him meet with Charles Foxon, one of the partners of a large construction company and a glass manufacturer. At the next meeting, expenses were calculated that did not go beyond the budget. On the fifteenth of July, thanks to a group of enthusiasts, it became possible to approve the plan in the construction committee, exactly one year before the opening of the exhibition.
It seemed that the green light had now been given to construction. However, now there are financial problems. A new wave of criticism began, but Prince Albert took it all with a smile, because the opening day of the first international exhibition was already so close. He replied: "Mathematicians calculated that the Crystal Palace would be blown away by the first light breeze; engineers came to the conclusion that the galleries would collapse and crush visitors; doctors warn that as a result of the communication of many races, the black death of the Middle Ages will come … I cannot insure myself against everything on light, just as I do not undertake to take responsibility for the life of the royal family. " Oddly enough, nothing of the kind happened, and Paxton's graceful palace was nevertheless built. On February 1, 1851, the Crystal Palace was ready, only seventeen weeks after the first building peg was driven into the ground.
All flags of the world are visiting us …
In the remaining time, everyone was busy with such an important and problematic matter as the selection of exhibits. It was decided that half of the area (37,200 square meters) should be allocated to British participants, and the remaining area should be divided among other countries. It soon became clear that even this space would not accommodate everyone, so they applied a selection system entrusted to the leadership of the participating countries. Only their location at the exhibition was decided by the Commission.
Coyle and his colleagues performed superb administrative duties. It should be mentioned that the correspondence of the Executive Committee between October 1849 and December 1851 increased to 162631 letters - and this is before the advent of typewriters! People were interested not only in the building and the time frame in which it would be built, but also in the exhibits themselves. There were also a lot of difficulties in the International Section. The first exhibits arrived on February 12, the last were not delivered until the opening. By the time the exhibition opened, 80 percent of the exhibits had been received. Of the 15,000 participants, half were British and half were foreigners; the lists point to representatives of no less than 40 different countries, of which France was in the lead.
One of the exhibits: the throne donated to Queen Victoria by the King of Travancore
Finally came May 1st. The enterprise, great in scale, was completed. The spring sun was shining; the young queen, with an enthusiasm that surprised even her entourage, went to the scene. For a moment it seemed like a new millennium. For the first time in world history, representatives of so many nations gathered together, under one roof of crystal, in a building where the finest creations of each country were collected. The Queen wrote on this occasion: "Indisputable approval, joy in every face, the immensity and splendor of the building, the combination of palms, flowers, trees and sculptures, fountains, the sound of the organ (200 instruments and 600 voices merged into one) and my beloved friends who reunited the history of all countries of the Earth - all this really took place and will remain in memory forever. May God save my dear Albert. May God save my dear country, which has shown itself so splendidly today!"
The expressiveness of these words expressed not only the feelings of the queen, but also the enthusiasm that grew throughout the exhibition. The record number of daily attendance has risen to 110,000 in the past week. In the period leading up to October, the total number of visitors rose to 6 million. The financial result fully covered the costs of the organization. After paying off debts, loans and payments, there was still £ 200,000 and a voluntary fund.
The success is truly overwhelming
Indeed, the exhibition was indeed an overwhelming success. But even more results were obtained after its closure. The first is profit and its investment. The organizers decided to invest it in land in South Kensington, adjacent to the area where the exhibition was held. As the owners of this lucrative property, they were able in the following years to provide funds to support many educational institutions and to create a scholarship system in higher educational institutions of science and art, which still exists today.
The second is the very building of the Crystal Palace, too large to be simply dismantled later. Rebuilt in another city, it served as a popular entertainment and social gathering center until it was destroyed by fire in 1936. The Crystal Palace was also one of the first structures in which the now so widespread unified elements were adopted: the entire building was made up of the same cells, assembled from 3300 cast-iron columns of the same thickness, 300,000 identical sheets of glass, the same type of wooden frames and metal beams. The prefabricated elements of standard sizes were prefabricated in the required quantity, so that only needed to be assembled on the construction site, and if necessary, they were just as easy to disassemble!
If we turn to the general result, then it should be noted that this was not just the first international exhibition, but the first meeting of nations with peaceful goals. On the one hand, this was the first step in the development of the international movement, and on the other, the stimulation of interethnic competition.
Now let's look at its effect through the prism of the views of three groups: visitors, participants and the jury. It is with her that such a phenomenon as mass international tourism begins. The British themselves underwent a serious test: after all, there was never an invasion of so many foreigners in the entire history of their nation. This helped to understand that not all of them are such animals and ignoramuses, as it seemed to them before. Plus, in addition to countless informal meetings at the exhibition, the government organized holidays for international delegations throughout London. Paris took the baton and invited an extraordinary number of Englishmen, surrounding them with a stream of entertainment. Social contacts of this kind and of this magnitude between people of different nationalities were undoubtedly unprecedented for that time.
The exhibition opened their eyes to British participants and helped them realize what they had stubbornly refused to notice before, namely, the primitiveness of modern English design. In this regard, she gave rise to a lightning-fast spread of the popularity of art education and contributed to the emergence of new schools of art construction. But foreign representatives also gained a lot from what they saw in England, which at that time was ahead of many countries. Some have called 1851 the beginning of the machine age. In many countries, tariffs on imported goods have been reduced.
And finally, the jury. It consisted of representatives of science and art from each participating country. Despite the fact that the topics of their discussions were limited, the jury sessions became the prototype of international conferences and congresses on all types of scientific, cultural and economic issues. For the first time in history, representatives of science, art and commerce were allowed by their governments to meet and discuss these topics. Another significant result was the construction of a railway from all parts of the country to its capital - London.
The internal effect of the exhibition can be considered an educational effect. The organizers came to the conclusion that the exhibition catalog was not very successful, it was criticized by everyone. The lack of a good label has become another stone in the British vegetable garden. Their section was not as informative as it could be. Of course, this did not say much to the crowds of admiring onlookers, but it did tell the specialists a lot. Thus, the exhibition also stimulated the development of education, new educational institutions were opened and non-formal education (museums, art galleries) expanded, the development of which so characterized this time.
Commemorative Medal of the Exhibition of 1851 depicting the Crystal Palace
Finally, the Crystal Palace was destined to enter the history of Russian literature and political thought of the 19th century. In 1859 it was visited by N. G. Chernyshevsky. What he saw influenced his imagination so strongly that he served as a prototype for the huge building in which the commune of the future lives in Vera Pavlovna's fourth dream from the novel What is to be done? The Russian writer, with amazing perspicacity, replaced iron and cast iron in the structural elements of the palace with aluminum, a metal that was more expensive than gold at that time. They did not yet know how to get it in large quantities and was used only in jewelry.
Well, then all developed countries adopted the experience of Britain, and such exhibitions and buildings have already become the norm in our life!
