The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry for all Nations was closed on the 11th October 1851. The building was bought by the Crystal Palace Company and reconstructed at huge expense at Sydenham, on the outskirts of London, in 1854. A further two storeys were added to the original three used at Hyde Park and the building became much longer. Experts such as Matthew Digby Wyatt and Owen Jones were hired to create and design new courts for the interior. They travelled the world making plaster casts of significant sculptures, monuments and architectural features. Each court illustrated a particular period in the history of art. They were arranged in chronological order around the outside of the building.

Philip Henry Delamotte, who took this picture of the Alhambra Court, photographed the reconstruction of the Crystal Palace between 1851 and 1854. The court was designed by Owen Jones using the extensive studies he had made previously of the famous palace in Spain.