The calm and wooded expanse of London’s Hyde Park offers little indication today that it was once home to one of the largest buildings in the world, but over the course of six months in 1851, it was here that Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace accommodated The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations.
The more than six million people who visited were treated to bite-sized portraits of every culture on the planet. Canada contributed a hoard of furs and a fire-engine decorated with panels depicting the Rocky Mountains. India sent an ivory throne, a coat embroidered with precious stones and a stuffed elephant decked out with a rajah’s howdah.
The Serpentine Gallery stands immediately...