The Royal Society of Arts

The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce played a huge role in making the 1851 World's Fair possible. The Royal Society of Arts promoted the concepts that the Great Exhibition embodied: Art, the art of industry, production, innovation, and much more. The Royal Society of Arts endorsed the exhibition and formed a Royal commission in 1850 to produce the event. After much deliberation they chose Joseph Paxton’s design of the Crystal Palace to house the event.