International Fisheries Exhibition

The International Fisheries Exhibition of 1883 transformed these twenty-one acres of the Royal Horticultural Gardens into a massive global showcase. More than two and a half million people flocked here to see the largest display of its kind ever mounted. Visitors encountered everything from a colossal aquarium filled with sixty-five thousand gallons of water to Canadian beavers housed in a courtyard. The site served as a hub for international networking, where governments from thirty-one countries sent agents to share the latest in aquatic research and commercial fishing technology.