The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-19 00:00:00

TH. INTERNATIONAL EXIIIBITIO N.

Some definite arrangements are now being made
with regard to the details of the opening ceremony
on the Ist of May. Up to the present no official
decision has been announced, but if all that is in-
tended is carried out in the spirit in which it is
devised the whole ceremonial will as a spectacle be
one of the richest and most noteworthy that has
been seen in this country for a long time. The
greater part of the formal portions of the fete will
take place in the centre of the nave in the open
space midway between the English and
foreign division. Guarantors and official and
invited visitors are to enter the building
under the west dome. The Royal Commissioners,
with distinguished foreign visitors who are to take
part in the proceedings of the day, are to enter
from the south entrance in the Cromwell-road. The
superb programme of music will be performed in
the orchestra, under the eastern dome. The re-
served and other seats for season ticket-holders
will be so arranged as to give them the best view
of the most important portions of the ceremony,
though, of course, in a building of such great
magnitude no seats can be so placed as to enable the
occupants to hear and see everything. In the
open space between the English and foreign
classes a canopied throne is to be erected on the
north side of the nave. The design and whole
structure of this have been furnished by Mr.
Crace, and if the complete effect of anything can
be judged from its drawing, this certainly pro-
mises to bo one of the finest temporary thrones ever
erected. It will be on a raised dais of eight steps,
and the height from the chair of state to the canopied
velvet roof above will be more than 40 ft. The whole
aspect of the design, in fact, very much resembles
that of the throne in the throne-room at St. James's,
though this at the Exhibition will be more than
four times the size, to keep it in something like
proportion to the interior in which it is shown. On
either side of the chair of state busts of her Majesty
and the late Prince Consort will be placed, but the
chair itself, as being, in fact, the throne for the
time, on this occasion will, of course, not be occu-
pied. On the first platform'of the raised dais in
front of this, and just beneath the canopy and mas-
sive velvet curtains, the Royal Commissioners will
stand in their robes of state. Here the addresses
and prayers will be read, and from this dais the
building will be declared opened. From the
throne extending to the Western Entrance a num-
ber of military bands will be placed, and troops
will be on duty in the building to mark the
line of the procession and add to the gene-
ral effect of the spectacle. That this effect will
be one of the richest and most beautiful possible
those who have seen the interior can easily imagine.
Already the rich colours of the exhibitors' stalls
fill the building with a glow of tints, and when
these become a background, so to speak, to a pro-
cession of nearly a thousand persons, all in robes
of state, uniform, or Court. costume, the spectacle
will really be most magnificent, and as much
superior in show to the opening ceremonial of 1851
as the present Exhibition will be superior to that
of Hyde Park. Both before, during, and after the
formal opening the impressive programme of music
specially composed for the occasion will be per-
formed in the great orchestra. This huge amphi-
theatre is already finished and being draped, and it
seems to fill the east end of the building so appro-
priately that it is almost a pity that it should only
be erected for a single day. This orchestra will
accommodate nearly 2,000 vocal and instrumental
performers. The various pieces of music which
Auber, Meyerbeer, sad Bennett have composed
are in hand, but Verdi's contribution has net
yet arrived. Report already speaks of the musi-
cal programme for the Ist of May as likely to be
one of the finest of its kind, and from the care
and attention which are being bestowed on the most
minute details of its rehearsal it is evident that
a surpassing effort will be made. The immense
variety of preparation for the opening has up till
now rather tended to distract public attention from
this great adjunct to the ceremonial, though our
readers may rely upon it that it has not been
from want of sufficient importance being attached
to it, for the Commissioners and all connected
with carrying out this part of the programme
seem determined to make it as far as possible a
anique performance. Having said. thus much of
the mere outline of the opening ceremony, we must
for a moment direct attention to the question of how
far the building as an exhibition will be ready by
the date fixed. The foreign portions, with few ex-
ceptions, cannot be completed in time. It is very
well to say that we are now only in the middle
of April, but any practical contractor who knows
what Easter week is—how very rigidly to-mor-
row, Easter Monday, and even a great part of Eas-
ter Tuesday are observed by workmen—will see at
once that taking off the Sundays and Saturday half-
' holydays will leave little more than eight clear
working days between this and the opening. Of
course, with a proper subdivision of labour, eight
days will sco a great deal accomplished, but there
really is such a mass of work to be done that unless
each exhibitor exerts himself individually the ar-
rangement of the interior will be very little, if at
all, better than at the opening in 1851. Messrs.
Kelk and Lucas, the contractors, have done their
work in spite of every difficulty, and the quickness
and admirable manner in which they have carried
everything out have elicited praise from all sides.
It is now the turn of the exhibitors themselves, and
they must really set their shoulders to the wheel,
and empty their packing-cases and send them
out of the building 'without loss of time. There is
a greater hindrance to the work now arising from
the enormous number of packing-cases strewed all
over the floors than from any other source. Not a
day should be lost in endeavouring to remedy this
evil, and some steps should also be taken to remove
the little mountain of empty cases that almost block
the road outside the shed for machinery in motion.
In our last notice of the progress of the works we
remarked upon the exceedingly crowded state of
the trophies in the English portion of the nave.
This great defect, far from abating, is actually get-
ting worse, for other things in the way of statues,
&c., are being added in all sorts of out-of-the-way
nooks where something like a passage-way hitherto
existed. Anything more incongruous and more
utterly inartistic than the effect of this sad jumble
can hardly be conceived. Lighthouses, jostle sta-
tues, fountains overlook squat gla'ss cases, huge te-
lescopes are levelled like gigantic cannon at the
roof, and only a perfect forest of cupolas, spires,
peaks, obelisks, and cases is visible from the raised
dais beneath the dome. Everything or anything
in the nave is by courtesy called a trophy, and the
result is a mere aggreggtion of very large and
Often very nalT things, which choke the way to,
and
spoila
cm theo n
g view of,
some really fine objects
which them. Viewed from the galleries,
ra
the general effect of this portion of the building
is something like looking from the first - floor
when the roadway has
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twos
ai ndteoa
de hbelaopcskiik
How it may look when
all the scaffolding and bri,Maying and plumbing
course, we cannot say,
apparatus is removed, of
though every one seems to entertain a very otrong
opinion that, look how it will, it can never look