From carriage to "Worker and Collective Farm Woman": The most unusual thing that was shown to visitors of world exhibitions in Paris

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

World exhibitions were a start in life for many different discoveries and inventions that once seemed like a wonder, but now have become an indispensable part of the familiar world. And Paris, having added other honorary statuses to its title of the capital of fashion, gave the stories about the creation of exhibits of exhibitions real French elegance.

The beginning of the tradition of holding exhibitions - as a consequence of the industrial boom and as a "great peace treaty"

The prototypes of international exhibitions were expositions that were arranged in aristocratic salons in the 18th century - at first they showed only works of art. Later, small trade exhibitions began to be organized, and when the rapid industrial development in Europe and the New World began in the 19th century, it was time for large international fairs that would allow different countries to exchange their achievements.

Exhibitions, which received the name of the world, since an impressive number of countries participated in them, and guests came from all over the world, began to be held since 1851. The first took place in London, in Hyde Park. The number of its visitors exceeded six million - a third of the then population of Great Britain. In the following decades, each such exhibition was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate inventions and new technologies, to acquaint the world with the achievements of engineering thought and fresh trends in art, and in general to unite the efforts of mankind in the movement towards peace, towards creation, towards the future. It is no coincidence that Victor Hugo called world exhibitions a "great peace treaty", and although they did not protect from wars and internal conflicts, citizens and subjects of different countries could interact and negotiate, surrounded by all the best that was created at that time by mankind.

And the very tradition of demonstrating the achievements of art and industry to a wide audience arose in Paris, which then repeatedly became the capital of such exhibitions and the city that first opened the world to many inventions and works of art.

Exhibitions in Paris in the 19th century

The first World Exhibition in Paris was held in 1855, from May 15 to November 15. It was dedicated to the achievements of industry, agriculture, and the fine arts. At the exhibition, one could see a lawn mower, a Singer sewing machine, a talking doll. The sensation was the "silver from clay" - aluminum ingots, for which the Palace of Industry was erected, modeled on London's Crystal Palace, built for the previous World's Fair, both of which have not survived to this day.

The next time Paris hosted the World's Fair in 1867. Then many reigning persons arrived - kings and princes, the sultan, the emir, the shogun, and also the Russian emperor Alexander II (by the way, it was then, during a visit to the Longshan hippodrome, that he was attacked for the second time). Paris between April and November became, in the words of Émile Zola, a "world hotel". Other great French writers - Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas-son, Théophile Gaultier - took part in the creation of the guide for the Paris-Guide exhibition.

The huge oval pavilion, built for the event, was divided into many smaller ones. And besides him, guests could visit the eastern minaret, the Chinese theater, the Tyrolean village, the English college, the Russian hut.

A telegraph machine, a Krupp cannon, ball bearings, a hydraulic lift - these are a few of the exhibits that were put on display for the guests of the exhibition. Mark Twain later wrote in his novel Simpleton in Paris: “Everyone went to Europe - I also went to Europe. Everyone went to the famous Paris exhibition - I also went to the famous Paris exhibition."

The Paris World Exhibition of 1878 was held against the backdrop of serious political turmoil and was intended to raise the prestige of France in the world. For the opening, the Trocadero Palace was built. The attention of the visitors of the exhibition was presented to the telephone set of Alexander Bell, the plane du Temple, Yablochkov's candle, as well as the head of the Statue of Liberty and her hand holding a torch - the body was not yet finished at that time.

In parallel, conferences were held that determine the development of the civilized world - they related to copyright, as well as the introduction of Braille for the blind.

The invention of the hydraulic lift played a decisive role in the construction of part of the scenery for the 1889 exhibition - the Eiffel Tower. It was conceived as a giant entrance arch to the exhibition grounds. Gustave Eiffel himself, whose engineering bureau was engaged in the development of the construction project, called his brainchild a "three-hundred-meter tower". Initially, it was planned to dismantle it 20 years after the exhibition, but the tower turned out to be a valuable object for organizing telegraph and radio communications, and it had too much success among citizens and tourists. The construction of the giant "flagpole" has already paid off during the exhibition.

The main theme of the event was electricity, and among other new products were presented steam engines and the first cars with an internal combustion engine - Daimler's motorized carriage and Benz's car. Then they developed a speed of up to 18 kilometers per hour.

The exhibition also featured the photo booth of the inventor Theophilus Engelbert.

The twentieth century begins

The 1900 exhibition was timed to coincide with the meeting of the new century in Paris, and from April to November it was attended by fifty million. Thirty-five countries presented their achievements in the industrial and artistic spheres, and in the capital of France, by the beginning of the event, the Gare de Lyon and the Orsay station (which later became a museum), the Alexander III bridge, the Grand and Small palaces appeared.

Part of the exhibition was the Olympic Games, which were held for the second time, in which women took part for the first time. The largest department of the Paris exhibition in 1900 was the Russian one, in the light of the then close relations between the two states, especially a lot of efforts and resources were invested in the event from Russia. Dmitry Mendeleev took an active part in the work. Another Russian scientist, Konstantin Persky, used the term “television” for the first time in his report on “electric cinema”.

At the exhibition, escalators were demonstrated as new products. And also the master Vasily Zvezdochkin created and brought to Paris a doll, which would later be called a primordially Russian doll - a matryoshka.

Thirty-seven years later, shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Paris again hosted an international exhibition. Now, not the Russian Empire, but the USSR took part in it, he brought to France, among other exhibits, a 24-meter sculpture "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" designed by Vera Mukhina. One of the grand prix of the exhibition went to the film "Chapaev".

Germany was also represented among other participating states, its pavilion was built in the form of the Roman numeral III - as an indication of the Third Reich. One of the works of art that was shown then in Paris was "Guernica" by Pablo Picasso.

World exhibitions have become a way to demonstrate to the world the achievements of each country, jointly form a picture of the future, improve relations between states and their citizens. Although, of course, it could not do without criticism - after all, The Eiffel Tower once aroused conflicting emotions among Parisians.