Exposition Universelle, 1900
La porte monumentale.
Was the Paris Exposition of 1900 the most gloriously excessive of them all? Judging by these photos it certainly looks it. I should have linked to these earlier when I had a post about the Palais du Trocadéro which was one of the buildings raised for the occasion. The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 exposition (and was famously intended to be a temporary structure) but became the centrepiece of the 1900 fair. Wikipedia has a large plan of the entire layout and two of the halls, the Grand and Petit Palais, are still in existence and used as exhibition spaces.
Le palais des illusions.
La salle des fêtes.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• The Palais du Trocadéro
• The Evanescent City
• Ephemeral architecture
• Paris III: Le Grande Répertoire–Machines de Spectacle
5 comments or trackbacks
#1 posted by Nathalie
Mar 29th, 2008
Those buildings were truly grand and decadent. Shame so many disappeared.
#2 posted by John
Mar 29th, 2008
Indeed, although in fairness to the architects many of these exposition structures were intended as temporary from the outset. What looks like solid stone was often plaster over a wood or metal frame, and so on. At least the Palais buildings survived.
#3 posted by Thombeau
Mar 30th, 2008
Fabulous!
#4 posted by xtiaan
Apr 24th, 2008
apparently the archeitect was inspired by heckels “art forms in nature” which had been recently published at that time, the outside does look kinda protozoa-ish
#5 posted by John
Apr 24th, 2008
Hmm, so I missed another opportunity to plug Haeckel again? Damn…. I presume it’s the gateway you’re referring to, which does indeed resemble some of the forms in Haeckel’s plates.
Leave a comment for ‘Exposition Universelle, 1900’