1. The transept from the grand entrance.
The exhibition was housed in a vast iron and glass building that was constructed especially for this purpose in London's Hyde Park. The venue was named the 'Crystal Palace'.
2. The foreign department, viewed towards the transept.
The glasshouse stretched 1,851 feet long and 128 feet high. The venue was built around several elm trees to prevent them from being cut down.
3. The British nave.
At the opening ceremony Queen Victoria performed. The exhibition was an immediate success, welcoming over 6 million visitors, who all got to feast their eyes on more than 13,000 exhibits from Britain.
4. Belgium.
It also featured the largest diamond in the world - a 186-carat Koh-i-Noor diamond.
5. India.
The exhibition also featured famed inventors like Samuel Colt who demonstrated several of his revolvers, as well as Frederick Bakewell who wowed the crowd with an early fax machine, and also George Merryweather who debuted his 'Tempest Prognosticator' - a barometer that used leeches kept in bottles of rainwater. According to Merryweather, the leeches would ascend a tube at the approach of a storm, and in doing so, ring a warning bell.
6. Machinery.
Six months after the exhibition was held, the palace was deconstructed and rebuilt in South London in a new form. The new building remained a landmark from 1854 until 1936.
7. Moving machinery.
Sadly, the building had burned down by this point, though thankfully, incredible illustrations of what the Crystal Palace looked like back then survived.
8. Agriculture.
9. Austria.
10. India.
11. Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
12. China.
13. Tunisia and China.
14. Sheffield Hardware.
15. Turkey.
16. Furs.
17. France.
18. France Sevre Court.
19. West Indies, Colonies etc.
20. Jersey, Gurnsey, Ceylon, Malta.
Now watch this short video featuring more stunning photos of what the Great Exhibition was like:
