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crystal Palace (The Crystal Palace) They were built for the Great Exhibition, an international exhibition that lasts for several months to show the greatest achievements of the Industrial Revolution.
Numerous countries participated here, demonstrating their inventions and technological victories. However, the Crystal Palace itself was a great achievement for those times.
The crystal palace was 564 meters long, with a ceiling height of 39 meters inside. This palace was three times larger than St. Paul’s Cathedral. However, despite their large size, they were built relatively quickly.
Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain Photo / Crystal Palace
The glass palace was characterized by a modular construction: it was a glass and cast iron building. Each module can be mounted separately.
This meant that they could simply be combined into one. Glass constructions of this size were very innovative at the time, as large sheets of glass had been produced relatively recently.
Does it look like a greenhouse? That’s how the Crystal Palace worked. In fact, there were various plants inside, including trees that grew here before the palace was built.
Wikimedia Commons / Public domain photo / Inside the Crystal Palace
In order to breathe indoors, Paxton came up with the idea of including vents in some of the modules, allowing the warm air to be drawn out of the room.
The roof was covered in places with cloth. The roof itself was also innovative enough: it had almost no flat surfaces so that the rain always fell safely, as the glass could not support the heavy weight of the water.
It is true that due to the unusual construction and sealing materials of the time, the ceiling of the Crystal Palace has always left water in several hundred places.
Because the Crystal Palace was modular, they simply moved to another location after the exhibition.
Interestingly, the Crystal Palace cost around £ 150,000 to build (almost £ 17 million in modern money) and the relocation next year at £ 1.3 million (around £ 135 million in current money).
It was a huge financial burden for the company that operated the Crystal Palace, but they were used.
There was commerce, concerts, and various offices at the Crystal Palace. Various technological advances are often featured here. In 1902, the first armored vehicle, the Motor War Car, was presented at the palace.
It is true that over time the condition of the palace deteriorated. In 1914, the palace was bought by Robert Windsor-Clive. Later he sold them and the restoration of the palace began in the 1930s. He brought visitors back and the palace, already reminiscent of a market, regained its elegance. But only for a short time.
In 1936, Henry Buckland, head of the community that ruled the Crystal Palace, was walking near the palace with his daughter Crystal (named after the palace) when he noticed a fire inside.
Two employees had already tried to put out the fire in the office, but they soon had to call the fire department.
Despite being extinguished by 400 men, London’s Crystal Palace disappeared in a matter of hours. The cause of the fire is unknown to date.
The red-lit sky was visible from a great distance. Winston Churchill, who observed the fire, called the catastrophe “The end of the century.”
Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain Photo / Crystal Palace after the fire
Up to 100,000 people gathered to watch the fire. In a matter of hours, nothing was left except the two water towers. The first was immediately demolished because it endangered the house. The second was blown up in 1941.
The insurance benefit was small and it was impossible to think about the restoration of the Crystal Palace. Especially since the Second World War soon began.
Later, there was a kind of makeshift car track in that area, and even later it became a park with slight traces of earlier grandeur.
There have been many proposals to rebuild the Crystal Palace. They were called one of the symbols of London, the loss of which is a great tragedy.
However, this would require large amounts of money and this building is unlikely to have the same effect now. Now, glass buildings no longer surprise, as do iron frames.
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