The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-17 00:00:00

CRYS TA L PAL ACE.-SEASON 1857-8.
PROGRAMME.

The Directors beg to announce that they have.made the
ollowing arrangements for the ensuing season
ROYAL ITA LUN OPERA CONCERI S.
The SEASON will COMMENCE on FRIDAY, the Ist of
May, with a.Vrand Morning Concert by the artistes of the
Royal Italian Opera. These Concerts having been honoured
last year by such general approbation, the Directors have en-
tered into arrangements witli.Mr. Gye to give a similar Series
of Twelve Concerts during the present season.
These Concerts will be supported by the following cele-
brated artistes :—Madame Grisi, Mademoiselle Rosa Devries,
Mademoiselle Marai, Mademoiselle Didiee, Mademoiselle
Parepa, and Madame Bosio ; Signor Mario, Signor Rouconi,
Signor Neri-Baraldi, Signor Gard-ni. l"ignor.Graziani, Herr
Formes, Signor Tagliafico, Monsieur Zegler, Signor Polonini,
and Signor Lablache. .
Tho Grand Orchestra of the Royal Italian Opera, with ad-
ditional performers, and also the celebrated Chorus, are en-
gaged for the whole series.
Tho musical direction of the whole is in the hands of Mr.
Costa, who will himself conduct a portion of the Concerts.
With the above assemblage of artistes, it is hardly neces-
sary for the Directors to state that the performances will be of
the highest class, and capable of very great variety.
The Concerts will take place on the following. Fridays. viz:
—May 1,8, 15, 22, and 29 ; June 5 and 26 ; July 3, 10, 17,
24, and 31.
The space allotted to the Concert Room last year (extensive
as it was) having been found inadequate to accommodate the
audiences, the Directors have this season determined to give
the Concerts in the Great Transept. • -
The Two Guinea Season Tickets will also be available for
these Concerts. Transferable tickets will also be issued for
each Concert at 7s. 6d. each ; which tickets can be obtained
at the Company's offices, or of any of the agents.
In compliance with a desire which was universally expressed
last season, a limited number of reserved stalls will be set
apart, which may be taken for the series of 12 concerts at one
guinea each stall, or at half-a-crown each for a single concert.
11. CONCERT OF THE COLOGNE CHORAL UNION.
The Directors have made arrangements with the Cologne
Choral Union (Coiner Manner Gesang Verein), whose perfor-
mances on their former visit attracted enthusiastic admira-
tion, for a Concert in the Centre Transept of the Palace, on
Saturday, the 6th of June.
N.8.---Both Classes of Season Tickets will be available for
this Concert.

111. GRAND WATERWORKS.
The Displays of the vast System of Fountains, Cascades,
• and Jets d'Eaux will be resumed and continued during the
whole season. The upper system will play daily se heretofore:.
and the Entire Display, embracing the Fountains of the
Grand Basins, the Water Temples,, the Cascades, and the
whole of the Upper Fuuntains, on occasions to be from time
to time announced.
IV. FLOWER SHOWS.
There will be Two Grabd Horticultural and Floricultural
Fetes during, the present season : •
The First on Saturday, the 30th of May ; and
The Second on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the 9th,
10th, and 11th September.
. V. POULTRY SHOWS.

There will be two Shows in the course of the coming season.
The Summer Show will take place on the 7th, Bth, 10th,
11th, and 12th of 'August. The Winter Show on the 9th,
11th, 12th, and 13th of January, 1858.
VI. GENERAL ARRANGEMENTS OF THE BUILDING.
EXHIBITIONS OF Picroacs.—The Picture Gallery, formed
during the past year in the North Wing of the Palace, has
proved so successful in its capabilities for the effective dis-
play of paintings, that it is the intention of the Directors to
hold therein, during the present season, Two Exhibitions of
the Works of Living Painters of all Schools.
The first of these Exhibitions will open in May, and con-
tinue open during the Summer.
• The Second will be a Winter Exhibition.
Exhibitions of Photographs will also be held in the upper
portion of the Picture Gallery from time to time during the
season.
CERAMIC COURT.—The Directors are desirous to take the
present opportunity of expressing their acknowledgments for
• .the kind and ready maner in which their requests for loans
for the Ceramic Court were responded to by the owners of
• Collec ions of Porcelain and Pottery of the most rare, fragile,
and valuable descriptions.
It is very gratifying to the Directors to be able to say that
the further aid offered them is such as will enable them to
continue the Ceramic Court, for the present season, with a
- number of additional specimens, exemplifying the capabilities
of the art in its most elaborate branches.
The Collection will be, as before, under the superintendence
of Mr. Thomas Bottom' F. S.A.
INDIAN COURT AND GALLERY OF ENGINEERING MODELS.—In
' each of these departments the Directors have to acknowledge
• assistance of the same gratifying nature as that in the Cera-
mic Court.' BY public companies and institutions, as well as
br private individuals, the Directors have been entrusted
with the most valuable and beautiful models, with costly
carvings and works in ivory and bronze fabrics and works of
art, granted, with a liberality and readiness for which they
cannot sufficiently express their obligations. They have thus
been P.o%iabled, materially to improve the.lndian Court, and
also to form a collection of models of engineering works, illus-
trating in a very complete` manner that great branch of Bri-
' tish find enterprise, surpassing any other now accessible
• to the public. It will give the Directors great pleasure to
. receive any further contributions with which they may be
favoured.
THs NAVAL Muszum. —The Exhibition under this denomina-
' tion in the First and Second Galleries of the North Transept,
fronting the Garden, now contains about 300 models of ships,
boats, and vessels of all descriptions, affording an illustra-
tion of the progressive improvement in British naval architec-
ture and navigation during a period of 340 years. It also
contains specimens of new inventions connected with the im-
provement of navigation.

The Directors beg here also to acknOwledge the ready and
extensive assistance which they have received from shipown-
ers, shipbuilders, engineers, and shipping companies, in form.
lug this very interesting and national collection, and at the
same time solicit the further aid of all parties who may have
the means of extending it.
W.trsa TOWERS. —The Great Towers are now completed,
and arrangements have been made by which, for a small
Charge, visitors to the Palace can ascend them, and enjoy the
extensive view from the balconies, where powerful telescopes
are about to be placed.

MANimmi Tasi.—An object of great interest has lately been
added to the contents of the Palace, which will remain on ex-
hibition during the whole of the coming season. The object
alluded to is a portion of the trunk of the Wellingtonia Gi-
gantea, or Mammoth Tree, being the largest of the group of
those erees discovered in California. The portion erected in
the Tropical. Transept, opposite the Abu Simbel figures, is no
leas than 103 feet in height, and 32 feet in diameter at the

EXHIBITING DEPARTMENT.—Amongst the branches of indus-
try which now find important illustration in this department
may be Mentioned the manufacture of gold and silver work
and electro:plate, both domestic and artistic ; vulcanite and
India rubber generally ; colour printing and typography ;
Papier maChe ornamental iron, fancy goods, and other pro-
ductions of Birmingham ; domestic furniture, church furni-
ture ; in stone, wood, metal, and fabric • hardware gene-
rally ; and especiallly the productions of 'Sheffield, in the
Court filled by the manufacturers of that important centre of
industry.
CANADIAN COURT.-The arrangements announced on a for-
liter occasion with the Government of Canada are now, the
Directors are happy to report, complete. The. Government of
Canada have undertaken to form and maintain in the Palace
a collection which shall completely set forth the condition of
the manufactures and other industry and resources of that
important colony.

The collection will be placed in the large Court lying be.
tween the News Room and the Stationery Court, immediately
adjoining both the Nave and Centre Transept, and at present'
occupied by the sculpture of the German school.
RAW PRODUCE COLLECTION, AND TRADE MUSEUM.-The Tech.
nological portion of this department is rapidly approaching
completion. It will comprise illustrations of all the chief
manufactures of the United Kingdom, and specimens of the
products animal, vegetable, and mineral, of Great Britain
and the Colonies, as well as of other countries. It is believed
that it will be open to the public in the course of the present
Summer.

The department is situated in the Second Gallery on the
Garden side of the Grand Transept.
MACHINERY LY MortoN.—The Machinery will be in action
during the season at such times as will be announced, in the
detailed advertisements. The Machinery now in the depart-
ment comprises a complete set of machinery for spinning.
carding, warping, sizing, weaving, and all the other processes
for the manufacture of cotton goods from the bale to the
thread, and from the thread to the finished piece ; and a great
variety of other machines.
AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY.—The Department of Agricul-
tural Machinery and Implements has been considerably im-
proved during the past year. Specimens will be found there
of the.portable steam engines and all the other new machines
of the chief manufacturers, and purchases can be made at the
same prices as at the warehouses of the makers.
READING Room.—The Company's Reading and News Room
is situated close to the Centre Transept, between it and the
German Sculpture Court ; it contains all the 'morning jour-
nals, the weekly papers, metropolitan and provincial, and all
the periodicals and magazhies.
In addition to this, advertisements and copies of new
works, both British and foreign; are displayed immediately
after publication.
FANCY ?ATM.—The Directors are prepared to afford accom-
modation to benevolent and other societies for holding Fancy
Fairs in the Palace during the season.
CRICKET, ARCHERY, AND THE GROUNDS GENERALLY.—It gives
the Directors great pleasure to announce that the Cricket
Ground is now complete, and that it will be thoroughly in
order for the approaching summer. Great care has been
taken in the formation of the ground, and they believe tbat
it will be found fully equal in extent and excellence to any
other in the neighbourhood of London.
The Archery Ground will be continued, as before, in the
Northern portion of the grounds, behind the Picture Gallery
Wing.

VII. SEASON TICKETS.
The Directors have determined upon continuing the price
of Season Tickets of admission at the following rates, viz. :
IL, SEASON TICKETS, AVAILABLE FROM IST MAY, 1857, TO 30TH
APRIL, 1858, Two GunfEaslEtcn.
These tickets will admit the holder on every occasion be-
tween May 1, 1857, and April 30, 1858, on which the Palace
is Open ; the four days of the Handel Festival, viz., the 13th,
15th, 17th, and 19th June only excepted.
11. SEASON TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM IST MAY, 1857, TO 30TH
APRIL, 1858, On GUINEA EACH.
These tickets admit, the holder on all occasions named
41)07e, excepting the Opera Concerts, and the other Fridays
throughout the year, and the 13th, 15th, 17th, and 19th
June, being the four days of the Handel Festival.
The Tickets will he issued on and after the 20th inst. ; and
Tay be obtained at the Crystal Palace ; at the "Offices of the
Company, 79, Lombard-street; at the Offices of the London
and Brighton Railway Company, London-bridge,and Regent-
ti'eus, Piccadilly ; Central Handel Festival Ticket Office, Exe-
er Ball, and of the Company's agents.
Remittances for Season Tickets to be by post-office orders
payable to George Grove.

VIII. GREAT HANDEL FESTIVAL.
It gives the Directors great gratification to be able to an-
nounce that they have entered into arrangements with the
Sacred Harmonic Society for a Grand Series of Three Fedor-
rnanees of Handel's Oratorios, to take place in the Centre
Transept of the Palace in the month of June.
s'li
„ llor Majesty and H.R.H. Prince Albert have been graci-
yslY pleased to extend ,their especial patronage to the festi-
?.l, and have expressed their intention of honouring it with
their pr • esence For further particulars see special adver-
,etnetit.
IX. RATES OF ADMISSION, RAILWAY ARRANGE-
MENTS, dm.
PRZINARS RATES OF ADMISSION.—These remain as before,
:—On Mondays,
nursdays and Fridays Tuesdays, Wednesdays,
One Shilling.
Saturdays Half-a Crown.
Children under 12 years of age, Half-price.
1‘ The Palace will be opened on Mondays on
uesdaYe, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, at 10 ; x
cepting on the days of the Concerts by the Opera Company,
'which days, and on Saturdays, it will ho opened at 12 ;
e osing daily about sunset.
linzEolTeli RArLwAt,—During the fieagon, the trains of the