51³Ô¹ÏÍø

History meets the future at the 2026 Great Exhibition Road Festival, with thousands enjoying free events for all ages.

175 years ago, throughout the summer of 1851, six million people visited a giant Crystal Palace inside Hyde Park to marvel at wonders of the age. Yesterday, thousands of Londoners braved the British weather to do something similar: celebrate innovations across science and the arts through talks, workshops, performances and hand-on demonstrations in and around 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s South Kensington Campus.

The original Great Exhibition led to the foundation of many iconic institutions that take part in the Great Exhibition Road Festival, including the V&A, the Science Museum, and the Natural History Museum.

Led by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, they joined forces to put on hundreds of free activities this weekend, alongside other Festival partners, including the Royal Parks, South Ken Culture Quarter, and the Goethe-Institut. As well as new collaborators like , who presented a stunning spectacle of handmade puppets parading along Exhibition Road.

A deeper look at the past

This year’s Festival marks the 175th anniversary of the Great Exhibition, with several events reflecting on its complex history and legacy.

These include The Great Counter Exhibition of 2026, created by , a community-driven production house fostering connection across cultures. The Great Exhibition was described at the time as the greatest display of human ingenuity the world had ever seen. But whose ingenuity was left unacknowledged? This activity asked visitors to consider the communities who shaped the exhibition but had little to no say in how they were represented (if they were included at all).

That spirit of honest enquiry was also at the heart of Uncovering 1851, a thought-provoking experience created by this year's  (a group of 18 to 25-year-olds from boroughs local to 51³Ô¹ÏÍø).

This interactive installation invited visitors to imagine travelling to the original exhibition, before entering a space where they could reflect on British 51³Ô¹ÏÍø history and uncover the stories that were left untold.

Unique experiences throughout the day

Visitors were treated to a day of culinary surprises at Future Food Live. A Royal Albert Hall archivist was paired with a professional chef to recreate dishes from 1851, giving crowds a rare taste of Victorian Britain, before the programme pivoted firmly to the future: from climate-friendly Caribbean cooking and lab-grown meat to incorporating bugs into dishes.

Continuing with the culinary theme, Saturday afternoon brought one of Festival’s most anticipated events: Growing Food in Space. Hosted by the first Briton to travel to space, Helen Sharman, the panel explored what we’ll eat when humanity journeys deeper into space.

Dr. Jakub Radzikowski, Head of the Gastronomy Impact Unit at the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, discussed how he hoped scientific innovation would allow astronauts to consume, and cook, familiar foods – as studies show eating foods that remind one of home can reduce anxiety in high-pressure environments. Reassuringly, Dr Aqueel Shamsul from Frontier Space, told audiences that within ten years astronauts would “definitely” be making chicken nuggets in orbit.

Another exciting offering of the day was Moving Through Time: A Dance Experiment, held at the Goethe-Institut. Created in collaboration with Professor of Experimental Physics Mike Tarbutt from 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, the session blended scientific insight with guided dance and improvisation as participants explored the deeply personal experience of time.

A new home for family adventures

One of the most visible changes to this year's Festival was the relocation of the Family Fun Zone to an exciting new space in Kensington Gardens, where younger visitors enjoyed brilliant activities and performances, aptly overlooked by the stunning Albert Memorial.

Budding engineers competed in the ultimate paper plane challenge, testing and refining their designs in the open air, while nearby a team of aeronautical engineers brought along a solar-powered aircraft they are developing for a record-breaking flight attempt.

Future medics made candy models to learn more about the structure of molecules, and  polar researchers invited children to take an imaginary trip to Antarctica, where they discovered what it’s like to conduct research on the coldest and most remote continent on Earth – complete with a penguins craft activity!

Festival fun returns last today

The Festival is back for its second and final day this Sunday, from noon; with drier weather forecasted and just as many exciting activities to dive into as on Saturday.

Historians and archivists will examine the enduring legacy of the 1851 exhibition in Revisiting the Great Exhibition of 1851, asking how we should reckon with its complex legacy 175 years on, as part of the Cultural Connections talk series hosted inside the V&A.

Over at the Sir Alexander Fleming Building, Sunday's Spotlight on Science talks include Plant-Powered Vaccines, in which 51³Ô¹ÏÍø's Professor Faith Osier examines how turning living plants into lifesaving medicines could transform health security across Africa. This will be followed by a journey through five-decades of Red Planet exploration, at 50 Years on Mars, from the first lander touchdown to today's tantalising hints of ancient Martian life.

, as well as the full programme of 

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