British Empire Exhibition
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The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley, London in 1924.
It was opened by George V on St George’s Day, 23 April. The British Empire contained 58 countries at that time, and only Gambia and Gibraltar did not take part. It cost £12 million and was the largest exhibition ever staged anywhere in the world - it attracted 27 million visitors.
Its official aim was "to stimulate trade, strengthen bonds that bind mother Country to her Sister States and Daughters, to bring into closer contact the one with each other, to enable all who owe allegiance to the British flag to meet on common ground and learn to know each other". Maxwell Ayrton was the architect for the project. The three main buildings were the palaces of Industry, Engineering and Arts. The Palace of Engineering was the largest reinforced concrete building, among it's exhibits was the now famous LNER no. 4472 Flying Scotsman, The site had a screw-driven "Neverstop" railway linking the various buildings
Most of the exhibition halls were intended to be temporary and demolished afterword's however the Palace of Engineering survived into the 1970's. The Empire Pool became the Wembley Arena and the stadium was kept, and became the home of English Football it was demolished in 2002 in order for it to be redeveloped.
[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliography
- The Lion Roars at Wembley - Donald R. Knight & Alan D. Sabey, Barnard & Westwood Ltd., London, 1984
[edit] External links
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