The Crystal Palace, 1851
George Baxter’s lithograph (above) shows the exterior of the main building for the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in London. It was designed by Sir Joseph Paxton to gigantic dimensions: 1,848 feet long by 456 feet wide; 135 feet high; 772,784 square feet of ground-floor area covering no less than 18 acres. The lithograph by Peter Mabuse (left) offers a view of one of the colonial displays at the Great Exhibition. The tented room and carved ivory throne are meant to recall India, Britain’s premier colony. (Top: © Maidstone Museum and Art Gallery, Kent, UK / Bridgeman Images. Left: Private Collection / The Stapleton Collection / Bridgeman Images.)