A view of the Crystal Palace built to house the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, organised by Prince Albert and the Royal Society. The exhibition was meant to be self funding and was so successful - six million people visited from all over the world, as shown in the foreground of the print - that the surplus was enough to found the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. Prints like this were very popular as souvenirs or for those who could not visit.