Queen Victoria, still in mourning for her consort Prince Albert, did not attend; instead her cousin the Duke of Cambridge presided from a throne sited beneath the western dome.

An opening address was delivered by the Earl Granville, chairman of Her Majesty's Commissioners, the group responsible for the organisation of the event.

[3] The exhibition was held in South Kensington, London, on a site covering 11 ha (27 acres),[1] and now occupied by the Natural History Museum.

The buildings, which occupied 21 acres (8.5 ha), were designed by Captain Francis Fowke of the Royal Engineers, and built by Lucas Brothers and Sir John Kelk.

[1] They were intended to be permanent, and were constructed in an un-ornamented style with the intention of adding decoration in later years as funds allowed.

These were composed of "naves" and "transepts", lit by tall clerestories, with the spaces in the angles between them filled by glass-roofed courts.

The timber-framed "Machinery Galleries", the only parts of the structure intended to be temporary, stretched further north along Prince Consort Road.

Among the items on display were:[3] There was also a range of smaller goods including fabrics, rugs, sculptures, furniture, plates, porcelain, silver and glass wares, and wallpaper.

They were on sale to the public in boxed sets and were delivered to the Queen by messenger so that she could experience the exhibition from her seclusion in mourning.

Music critic Henry Chorley was selected as advisor, and recommended commissioning works by William Sterndale Bennett, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Daniel Auber, and Gioacchino Rossini.

Controversies involving Verdi's contribution, the cantata Inno delle nazioni, prevented the work from being included in the inaugural concert.

[3] At the opening of the exhibition on 1 May 1862, one of the attending Members of the British Parliament, 70-year-old Robert Aglionby Slaney, fell onto the ground through a gap between floorboards on a platform.