This timeline forms part of our close-up on: the great British and French universal exhibitions during the Second Empire.
– 1 May – 15 October, 1851, London
The Official opening of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations took place in a specially built Crystal Palace, a gigantic glass construction designed by Joseph Paxton (1801-1865), covering 7.5 hectares of Hyde Park – it was subsequently moved to North London where it was destroyed in a fire in 1936.
13,937 exhibits, all marvels of the industrial age (most produced within the British Empire), were displayed. The exhibition was viewed by more than six million visitors.
– 15 May – 15 November, 1855, Paris
The Exposition universelle of 1855 was the first universal exhibition held in France. It was sited on the Champs-Élysées. There were 24,000 exhibitors and more than five million visitors.
A series of imperial decrees concerning the organisation of the exhibition were promulgated during the period 1852-1855 (the first dated 8 March, 1853). The aim was to provide exhibition space for agricultural and industrial marvels from France and the rest of the world.
The gigantic Palais de l’Industrie (later demolished and replaced by today’s Grand Palais) was the principal building for the exhibition.
– 1 May to 1 November, 1862, London
The The International of 1862, or Great London Exposition was a world’s fair held in London sited on today’s gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society and in the land now occupied by the London Natural History and Science Museums in South Kensington.
It was sponsored by the Royal Society of Art, Manufactures and Trade and there were 28,700 exhibitors from 36 countries presenting the latest works of industry, technology and the decorative arts. Its received more than six million visitors.
The site covered 23 acres, and a special hall, designed by Captain Francis Fowke and built by Charle and Thomas Lucas, provided the principal exhibition space. The building costs of £300,000 were covered by profits from the exhibition of 1851. Unfortunately the 1862 exhibition was not so financially successful, making a tiny profit of £790.
– 1 April – 3 November, 1867, Paris
The second universal exhibition, the Exposition universelle d’Art et d’industrie, was sited on the Champ-de-Mars. 41 countries participated.
With the great restructuring work in Paris completed, the exhibition (the jewel in the crown) marks the apogee of the Second Empire. It housed more than 52,200 exhibits and was viewed by 11 million visitors.