World's fair exposition in the Crystal Palace at Hyde Park in 1851 is celebrated by the search engine's latest doodle
The first world's fair exposition, the Great Exhibition, which happened 160 years ago, is celebrated in the latest Google doodle.
It took place on 1 May 1851 in the Crystal Palace building at Hyde Park and was the idea of Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert.
The graphic for the doodle incorporates the Google name, and online viewers can use their mouse to zoom in to look at particular sections as if using a magnifying glass. There are also animated features, such as a fountain.
More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered at the Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace's 91974 sq metres (990,000 sq ft) of exhibition space in 1851. The Crystal Palace, built with glass panels on a cast iron frame and 564 metres (1,851 ft) long, was created especially for the show and designed by Joseph Paxton. The building displayed examples of technology developed in the industrial revolution and Britain's exhibits were joined by items from colonies including Australia, New Zealand and India, as well as contributions from Denmark, France and Switzerland.
Inventions included an early voting machine and a forerunner of the fax machine. Visitors could also marvel at the Koh-i-noor – at the time the world's biggest known diamond.
After the exhibition, the Crystal Palace was moved to a new park in Penge Common next to Sydenham Hill. Here, it was enlarged and stood in the area from 1854 to 1936, when it was destroyed by fire. The name Crystal Palace was later used to denote this area of south London and the park that surrounds the site, home of the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.
Interestingly, the building and the original show also helped create the English euphemism "spend a penny", meaning go to the toilet, after sanitary engineer and plumber George Jennings created the first public loos.
The so-called Monkey Closets were located in the Retiring Rooms, and visitors, who were also offered a shoe shine, were charged a penny to use them.
The first show was a big success and the profit made was used to found London's Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum.
International exhibitions, which became known as world's fairs, have since been held periodically around the globe. Many have led to impressive works of architecture, including the Eiffel Tower from Paris's 1889 Exposition Universelle, the Atomium in Brussels and Seattle's Space Needle.
The most recent world's fair was held last year in Shanghai, China, while the next is due to take place in Yeosu, South Korea in 2012.