The Great Industrial Exhibition in 1853 was held in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, Ireland. In its day, it was the largest international event to be held in Ireland. The Irish Industrial Exhibition Building, located on the grounds of

Leinster House Leinster House ( ga, Teach Laighean) is the seat of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Ireland. Originally, it was the ducal palace of the Dukes of Leinster. Since 1922, it is a complex of buildings, of which the former ducal palace is the core ...

, housed the entire fair. It lasted from 12 May to 31 October,

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

accompanied by the Prince Consort and the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

, paid an official visit on 29 August.

Background

It was entirely funded by

William Dargan William Dargan (28 February 1799 – 7 February 1867) was arguably the most important Irish engineer of the 19th century and certainly the most important figure in railway construction. Dargan designed and built Ireland's first railway lin ...

, entrepreneur and developer of Irish railways. He had planned to donate $100,000 to the effort, but ended up giving $400,000. The intent of the exhibition was to introduce the industrial revolution to Ireland, which was behind some other European countries.

Irish Industrial Exhibition Building

Visitors were struck with the quality of the building more than by any of the objects that it contained. Critics described the large exhibition building and "the rapidity with which it was erected" (a few months), and "the sufficiency of its plans, and the enormous mass of its carefully worked materials." The building is described by ''The Illustrated Dublin Exhibition Catalogue'' as: On 12 May 1853, when the exhibition opened, the architect (who had also been the architect for the industrial exhibition held in

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

the previous year), John Benson, was granted a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...

. Part of the roof blew off during a storm on Christmas Eve, the year before opening.

Exhibits

Some limited Irish furniture industry was shown, including the linen and lace industry which the Irish could identify with. Also

Bog wood Bog-wood (also spelled bogwood or bog wood), also known as abonos and, especially amongst pipe smokers, as morta, is a material from trees that have been buried in peat bogs and preserved from decay by the acidic and anaerobic bog conditions, some ...

carvings and

Celtic Revival The Celtic Revival (also referred to as the Celtic Twilight) is a variety of movements and trends in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries that see a renewed interest in aspects of Celtic culture. Artists and writers drew on the traditions of Gae ...

jewellery and other items were showcased, including the

Tara Brooch The Tara Brooch is an Irish Celtic brooch, dated to the late-7th or early-8th century, of the pseudo-penannular type (i.e., with a fully closed head or hoop). It is made from bronze, silver and gold, with a head formed from a circular ornate ri ...

, displayed with the modern imitations which were already fashionable.Harrison, Bernice.
Design Moment: Tara Brooch, 8th century
. ''The Irish Times'', 16 March 2019. Retrieved 8 may 2022 However none of this inspired new Irish Industry. There were a few American exhibits including Colt and

Singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

. Colt sold 40 pistols to the Irish prison system. There were also some exhibits from Australia, including examples of gold from several fields. It was the first Worlds Fair to exhibit fine arts paintings. Included in the fine arts section were the calotype photographs which had been taken by Edward King-Tenison, of Castle Tenison, Co. Roscommon of the villages and towns of Spain. E.K. Tenison had developed a technique which enabled him to enlarge his pictures to a size which were appropriate for exhibition. British exhibits were limited to those companies who were looking for markets in Ireland, with little success. It was only during its last month that Dargan convinced the railways to offer a very inexpensive excursions rate and combined with an admission ticket for almost nothing, did some of the general Irish public get to see the crystal palace in Dublin.

Outcome

''The Illustrated Dublin Exhibition Catalogue'' commented: However, overall attendance was lower than expected at approximately 1.15 million visitors,Alun C. Davies, Ireland's Crystal Palace, 1853 in J. M. Goldstrom and L. A. Carkson (eds.) Irish Population, Economy and Society (Oxford, 1981). leaving Dargan with a financial loss of approximately £9,000.

References

External links

List of photographic exhibits at the exhibition
{{Coord, 53.3403081, -6.2519006, format=dms, type:landmark, display=title 1853 festivals 1853 in Ireland 1850s in Dublin (city) 19th century in technology World's fairs in Dublin (city) Technology events