TEXT:

The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass building originally erected in London to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. Designed by Joseph Paxton, it was 1,851 feet long, with an interior height of 128 feet. The ridge and furrow roof glazing system specially devised for the occasion required 49 glass sheets capable of spanning between furrows 8 feet apart, with three ridges occurring every 24 feet. It is the recent invention of the cast plate glass method in 1848, which allowed for large sheets of strong but cheap glass.

With it use of materials (iron and glass) and the technique of construction, it symbolizes and demonstrates the industrial and technical superiority of the United Kingdom of time. It was destroyed by fire in 1936.

VOCABULARY:

Cast iron: fonte
Plate glass: verre plat
ridge: crêtre
furrow: sillon
glass: verre
roof: le toit
glazing: le vitrage