Medaille auf Queen Victoria und Prince Albert sowie die Internationale Industrie-Ausstellung in London 1851

Art Historical Context

This commemorative medal, struck in 1851 by the Birmingham firm Allen & Moore, honors Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and the Great Exhibition—the world’s first international industrial fair. Measuring just over five centimeters in diameter, the metal piece was designed as a portable souvenir, allowing visitors to carry home a tangible reminder of the Crystal Palace and its dazzling displays of machinery, manufactures, and imperial achievement. Prince Albert’s vision for the exhibition celebrated progress, free trade, and Britain’s industrial leadership, drawing over six million visitors during its six-month run. Medals such as this one played an important role in shaping public memory; their obverse typically bore royal portraits while the reverse illustrated the exhibition building or allegorical figures of industry. Produced in large numbers, they helped spread enthusiasm for the event far beyond London. Today the medal resides in the Belvedere Collection in Vienna, a reminder of how 19th-century commemorative art connected distant audiences to a landmark moment in global history. Its modest size and durable metal medium ensured that the ideals of innovation and international exchange could be preserved and shared across generations.