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A special building, the Crystal Palace was designed by Joseph Paxton (with support from civil engineerThe term civil engineer refers to an individual who practices civil engineering. Originally the term "civil" engineer worked on public works projects and was contrasted with the military engineer, who worked on armaments and defenses. Over time, civil eng William Henry BarlowWilliam Henry Barlow ( 1812- 1902) was an English civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with railway engineering projects. Born in Charlton in south-east London, the son of an engineer and mathematician (Professor Peter Barlow, who t) to house the show; an architecturallyArchitecture is the art and science of designing buildings. A wider definition would include within its scope the design of the total built environment, from the macrolevel of town planning, urban design, and landscape architecture to the microlevel of fu adventurous building, constructed from cast ironCast iron is a group of metals based on the three elements Iron, Carbon and Silicon. It is made by remelting pig iron, often along with substantial quantities of scrap iron, and taking various steps to remove undesirable contaminants such as phosphorus an-frame components and glassFor eyeglasses, see spectacles The physics definition of a glass is a uniform amorphous solid material, usually produced when a suitably viscous molten material cools very rapidly, thereby not giving enough time for a regular crystal lattice to form. made almost exclusively in BirminghamThis article is about Birmingham in England. See also Birmingham, Alabama or other places called Birmingham. Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. Being the country's second largest city, it is usually considered B and SmethwickSmethwick is a town adjacent to Birmingham and West Bromwich, Originally the area was an Urban District in the county of Staffordshire, but since 1974 has been part of the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, in the West Midlands county. Smethwick is served, which was an enormous success. The committee overseeing its construction included Isambard Kingdom BrunelIsambard Kingdom Brunel ( April 9, 1806 September 15, 1859) was a British engineer, noted for the creation of the Great Western Railway and a series of famous steamships. The Thames Tunnel The son of noted engineer Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, Isambard K.. The massive glass house was 1848 feet (about 563 m) long by 454 feet (about 138 m) wide, and went from plans to grand opening in just nine months. The building was later moved to Sydenham in south London and renaming part of the area as Crystal Palace.

Profits were later used to found the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum which were all built in the area to the south of the exhibition, alongside the Imperial Institute.

The exhibition caused controversy at the time. Some conservatives feared that the mass of visitors might become a revolutionary mob, while radicals such as Karl Marx saw the exhibition as an emblem of the capitalist fetishism of commodities. Today the 'Great Exhibition' has become a symbol of the Victorian Age.

The America's Cup yachting event began with a race held in conjunction with the Great Exhibition.

See also: List of world's fairs