International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures

The International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures was a world's fair held in Dublin, Ireland in 1865 attended by almost 1 million visitors.[1]

International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures
Plan of the Dublin Exhibition Palace and Winter Garden
Overview
BIE-classUnrecognized exposition
NameInternational Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures
Building(s)National Concert Hall
Area17 acres (6.9 hectares)[1]
Visitors956000
Participant(s)
Countries48 (countries, cities and British colonies)
Location
CountryUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
CityDublin
VenueDublin Exhibition Palace and Winter Garden
Coordinates53°20′10″N 6°15′43″W / 53.336°N 6.262°W / 53.336; -6.262
Timeline
OpeningMay 9, 1865 (1865-05-09)
ClosureNovember 10, 1865 (1865-11-10)
Unrecognized expositions
PreviousExposition Universelle in Metz
NextSydney Intercolonial Exhibition (1870) in Sydney
Simultaneous
Other1865 International Exhibition in Porto

Site and buildings edit

Main site edit

In 1862 the Duke of Leinster, Lord Talbot de Malahide and Benjamin Guinness created a Dublin Exhibition Palace and Winter Garden company to establish a Dublin exposition,[2] the first in Dublin since the Great Industrial Exhibition (1853). Guinness supplied the Coburg Gardens, a 15-acre site to the company,[2] which lay between Hatch Street, Harcourt Street and Earlsfort Terrace;[3] and they additionally leased 2 more acres for exhibition grounds.[2]

In 1862 the company called for designs at a cost of £35,000 or less. None of the submitted plans came within this cost constraint, but plans from Alfred G Jones were accepted with the proviso that they were revised. In the final design there were three buildings: a brick and stone building, a stone building with iron roof and an iron and glass building, the latter influenced by The Crystal Palace.[2]

 
1860s engraving labelled of interior of the Dublin Exhibition Palace"

The foundations were started in 1863.[4]

Auxiliary site edit

In addition to the main site and gardens; vegetable, seeds, and farm implements were displayed at the Royal Dublin Society buildings (now Archaeology and Natural History Museum buildings) in Kildare Street.[5]

The fair edit

The iron and glass building was stress tested by 600 soldiers marching along the galleries on 31 March 1865 and the exhibition opened by the then Prince of Wales on either 9 May [4] or 8 May,[6] 1865.

The fair attracted 956,000 visitors [1] with averages of 5,000 day visitors, and 3,000 evening visitors[7]

Displays of fine arts, textiles, manufactured goods and raw materials occupied 4,781 display cases (2,413 British Isles, 2,368 foreign countries, cities and colonies).[8]

Aftermath edit

After 1911, the building that lay along Earlsfort Terrace and the winter gardens became part of one of the city's university[9] and later the building became the National Concert Hall[4] with the winter gardens forming the Iveagh Gardens.[7] A rustic grotto and some statues remain in Iveagh Gardens.[10]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Pelle, Findling, ed. (2008). "Appendix B:Fair Statistics". Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 414. ISBN 978-0-7864-3416-9.
  2. ^ a b c d Miglena Ivanova (2008). "Dublin 1865". In Pelle, Findling (ed.). Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-7864-3416-9.
  3. ^ "International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures, Dublin, 1865 - Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951". Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  4. ^ a b c Miglena Ivanova (2008). "Dublin 1865". In Pelle, Findling (ed.). Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions. McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 33–34. ISBN 978-0-7864-3416-9.
  5. ^ "GUIDE FOR THE VISITOR". DUBLIN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION of Arts AND Manufactures, 1865 OFFICIAL CATALOGUE. p. xxic.
  6. ^ "Holdings: The International Exhibition, Dublin". Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  7. ^ a b "Dublin, June 1865 | Dublin City Council". Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  8. ^ Miglena Ivanova (2008). "Dublin 1865". In Pelle, Findling (ed.). Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-7864-3416-9.
  9. ^ "Coburg Gardens now Iveagh Gardens | Wide and Convenient Streets". Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  10. ^ "1865 - Dublin Exhibition - Architecture of Dublin City, Lost Buildings of Ireland - Archiseek - Irish Architecture". Retrieved 4 November 2016.

External links edit

Further reading edit

  • O’Cleirigh, Nellie (1994). "Dublin International Exhibition, 1865". Dublin Historical Record. Old Dublin Society. 47 (2): 169–182. JSTOR 30101088.