After having entertained, inspired and educated millions of visitors over 180 days, Expo 2020 Dubai drew to a tearful close on March 31,2022 and became a part of #history   . For its hundreds of thousands of loyal patrons, the event was more than a destination; it was an emotion. The end of the event has probed people to look more into the history of world expos and the future of EXPO2020 .

HISTORY OF WORLD EXPOS

BIRTH OF THE CONCEPT

THE GREAT EXHIBITION  OF 1851

The Great Exhibition in London was held in the iconic Crystal Palace in 1851 to showcase the inventions of the Industrial Revolution..By bringing together the best and most advanced creations from around the world, the Expo fostered a form of peaceful competition, but moreover sought to encourage the exchange of ideas and inspire visitors.

Exterior view of Crystal Palace

Machinery section

Canada section

China section

Guernsey, Jersey, Malta, Ceylon section

The Transept

West Indies, Colonies

Holland section

India section

The Italian Court

Turkey section

The United States of America section

Image: Dickinson's Comprehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition of 1851

Attending the Great Exhibition were many notable celebrities of the time, including Charles Darwin, Samuel Colt and the writers Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, George Eliot and Alfred Tennyson. Samuel Colt demonstrated several of his revolvers and Frederick Bakewell showed off an early fax machine.

On display were 13,000 exhibits from Britain, its colonies and other countries from across the globe, including the largest diamond in the world, the 186-carat Kohinoor diamond. 

After the six-month exhibition, the palace was deconstructed and rebuilt in South London, though in a new form. The reconstituted building remained a major landmark from 1854 until 1936, when it burned down. 

MOVING TOWARDS PROGRESS

THE CONVENTION OF 1928

The multiplication of Expos organised under different rules and with different focal points led to the idea of setting up a common organisational framework.This project, first mooted by Germany in 1913, eventually was signed in Paris on 22nd November 1928, when 31 countries signed the Convention relating to international exhibitionsand created a governing body to apply the Convention: the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE). From the 31 countries that created the BIE in 1928, the Organisation has grown to 170 Member States, as a result of the success and the appeal of Expos.

THE OPTIMISM OF MODERNITY

The two World Wars forever changed the ideas and values driving societies, revealing the need for a system of cooperation between nations as opposed to unstinting competition.The fascination for material progress gave way to the promotion of quality of life and international dialogue. The World Expos held in the period 1929-1962 reflected the desire to overcome conflict, placing the search for balance and the maintenance of peace at the centre of the themes explored.

Space needle model, Seattle in 1962

The Atomium model, Brussels in 1958

Buckminster Fuller dome ,Montreal in 1967

At the Expo sites, a sense of grandeur, splendour, spectacle and the promotion of the future created an exemplary climate of harmony, modernity and optimism.Technology was still at the centre , but as a means of promoting human development rather than as an end in itself.The evolving themes of the Expos from the 1950s onwards demonstrated this shift, including “Progress and Mankind” at Expo 1958 Brussels, or “Man and his World” at Expo 1967 Montreal.

TIMELINE OF EXPO

1851-The Great Exhibition, London

1855-Exposition Universelle, Paris

1862-International Exhibition, London

1867-Exposition Universelle, Paris

1876-Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia

1878-Exposition Universelle, Paris

1880-Melbourne International Exhibition

1889-Exposition Universelle, Paris

1893-World’s Columbian Exposition,Chicago

1900-L’Exposition de Paris, Paris

1904-Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis

1906-Esposizione Internazionale del Sempione, Milan

1915-Panama–Pacific Exposition, San Francisco

1929-Exposición Internacional, Barcelona

1933-A Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago

1937-Exposition Internationale, Paris

1939-40World’s Fair, New York

1958-Exposition Universelle, Brussels

1962-Century 21 Exposition, Seattle

1967-Universal and International Exposition, Montreal

1970-World Expo, Osaka

1974-International Expostion, Spokane

1975-International Exhibition, Okinawa

1982-Knoxville International Exposition

1984-World Exposition, Louisiana

1998-World Exposition, Lisbon

2000-World Exposition, Hannover

2005-World Exposition, Aichi

2010-World Expo, Shanghai

2015-World Expo, Milan

• 1855-Exposition Universelle, Paris
  

Emperor Napoleon III awarded the French Legion of Honour to Charles Goodyear for his vulcanised rubber. The vulcanisation process made it possible to shape rubber into durable clothes, shoes, balls, hats, rafts, umbrellas, and eventually automobile tires.

• 1862-International Exhibition, London
  

Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine – one of the first mechanical computers – was on display . The model was a follow-up to the Difference Engine that Babbage wasn’t permitted to display at the earlier 1851 Great Exhibition.

• 1867-Exposition Universelle, Paris
  

Luxury brand Louis Vuitton owes much of its enduring success to its exposure and triumphs at world exhibitions. The company’s trunks won a bronze medal at the Expo.

• 1876-Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia
  

Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated the telephone at the Expo. While competitors were trying to make a better telegraph, the telephone’s success came from its ability to send the human voice over long distances, cementing Bell’s place in communications history.Food innovations like popcorn and Heinz Ketchup were introduced.

• 1878-Exposition Universelle, Paris
  

Augustin Mouchot debuted a solar collector. Shaped mirrors concentrated the sun’s rays onto a black copper container filled with water, powering a refrigeration unit that produced blocks of cool ice and the first glimpse of renewable energy.

• 1880-Melbourne International Exhibition
  

It is now on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

• 1889-Exposition Universelle, Paris
  

Gustave Eiffel's The Eiffel Tower  design won over judges in a contest that drew more than 700 entries, including plans for a colossal watering can and a 300-metre-high guillotine.

• 1893-World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago
  

Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla tried to persuade millions of visitors of the merits of their respective Direct Current (DC) and Alternating Current (AC) electrification systems. By the end,Tesla emerged victorious, and AC became the American national standard.George Ferris's "Big Wheel", a world first, was installed .

• 1900-L’Exposition de Paris, Paris
  

Some of the first Olympic Games of the modern age took place at World Expos. Official events in 1900 included polo, croquet, and Basque Pelota.

• 1904-Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis
  

Incubators were one of the greatest draws.Attendees paid admission to view this scientific miracle, strolling through an exhibit where medical staff watched over prematurely born babies who thrived in the new devices.Ice cream cones were introduced.The Wright flyer,the first powered aircraft made by the Wright Brothers was exhibited.

• 1906-Esposizione Internazionale del Sempione

 The novel espresso machine  came into the world’s attention.

• 1915-Panama–Pacific Exposition, San FranciscoIn

Telecom company AT&T crowded visitors into an auditorium filled with telephone receivers to publicise the first transcontinental phone call.

• 1933-A Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago

The 1933 Expo began forecasting the future through pavilions that included the celebrated House of Tomorrow. The steel-framed home included then-luxuries such as air conditioning, a dishwasher, and a garage.

• 1937-Exposition Internationale, Paris

Pablo Picasso’s painting, “Guernica”,depicting the destruction of the Basque town of Guernica,was the highlight.

• 1939-40-World’s Fair, New York

Television began with a telecast of US President Franklin D Roosevelt opening the New York Expo. In the RCA Pavilion, a transparent TV, with its working parts fully visible, was needed to convince wary audiences that the technology was no trick.

• 1958-Exposition Universelle, Brussels

The event’s greatest impact was not the Atonium, but the infrastructure transformation of Brussels, turning it into one of the most motorised European capitals.

• 1962-Century 21 Exposition, Seattle

The Space Needle, was inspired by UFOs and old record-playing turntables. The 184-metre-tall monolith influenced the look of the “The Jetsons” cartoon series, and popularised the futuristic Googie style of architecture, known for geometric shapes expressed in steel, glass, and neon. IBM’s Shoebox – an early computer that responded to vocal commands,stunned the audience.

• 1967-Universal and International Exposition, Montreal

Habitat 67 was experimental, modular housing designed by Moshe Safdie.

• 1970-World Expo, Osaka

Just a year after the Apollo 11 moon landing, telecom company NTT displayed the “Dream Telephone” of the future. It was a prototype of a cordless phone terminal capable of making calls to any location in Japan.

• 1974-International Expostion, Spokane

Organisers urged every exhibitor to focus on environmental themes, and General Motors did this by displaying the XP-883, a prototype of modern hybrid automobiles.

• 1975-International Exhibition, Okinawa

The 1975 Expo imagined a future of floating cities. Its centrepiece was the Aquapolis, a 10,000-square-metre, semi-submerged metropolis that also tested one of the world’s first waste-water recycling processes.

• 1982-Knoxville International Exposition

The United States Pavilion introduced audiences to the world's first touchscreen: Accutouch. Installed on 33 screens, the touch-sensitive panel allowed users to experience controlling a computer with nothing more than taps, jabs, and swipes.

• 1984-World Exposition, Louisiana

The first Expo to have an official mascot: Seymore D. Fair, a large, white-costumed pelican. Other unusual symbols since then have included Expo Ernie the robot, for Expo 86 in Vancouver, and Foody, a figure composed of fruits and vegetables, for Expo 2015 in Milan.

• 1998-World Exposition, Lisbon

Celebrated the 500th anniversary of Vasco de Gama's discovery of a sea route to India.

• 2000-World Exposition, Hannover

BMW built a fleet of hydrogen-powered 750hL automobiles, which provided daily shuttle services for guests.

• 2005-World Exposition, Aichi

The public was introduced to Ultra High-Definition TV (HDTV) for the first time.

• 2010-World Expo, Shanghai

With a site of 523 hectares in size, Expo 2010 Shanghai was the largest ever. In nearly two centuries of Expo, it also had the highest attendance rate, with a whopping 73.5 million visitors pouring through its gates.The closing date,October 31 was issued as World Cities Day.

• 2015-World Expo, Milan

The 2015 Expo's layout was inspired by Roman cities, with a 1.5 kilometre-long east-west-oriented “decumanus,” which criss-crossed with a 350-metre-long “cardo.

WORLD EXPO MUSEUM

STATISTICS OF WORLD EXPO

• 1904 -60
• 1939-55
• 1967-62
• 1970-77
• 1992-112
• 2000-155
• 2010-190
• 2015-139

2.Number of visitors in millions:

• 1900-51
• 1939-45
• 1958-41
• 1970-64
• 2010-73.5
  

 

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