Other Paris Theme:

Paris World Fair

Haussmann and new city layout for the Worlds Fair, new inventions, new spirit, etc

The World's Fairs of the 19th century were a popular exhibition for culture and industry of a rapidly modernizing world. It was the ideal venue for presenting the new spirit in internationalism, invention and industrialization. From 1800 to 1900 Paris hosted the Worlds Fair (Exposition Universelle) five times. At each of these Expos, guests were awed by something new:  the city’s urban development under Haussmann, electric lights, the metro and buildings such as the Eiffel Tower and Pont d’Alexandre. As well as showing off the city’s own modernization, Paris was also a gracious host of for the great inventions and cultures from around the world. Law required that all constructions be taken down with-in two years. For the great majority of contributions this was the case; however, some attractions survived and have become monuments of Paris today!

Historical Content
1855 and 1867
The World’s Fair of 1855 was held on the present site of the Champs Elysée. France’s new emperor Louis Napoleon III was especially proud of the event that highlighted advances in art, industry and agriculture.  The event was a success, but only more so because it highlighted a totally new Paris at Louis Napoleon’s 1967 World’s Fair! The highlight of the 1967 World’s Fair was his and the Baron Haussmann’s modernized Paris. While the urban beautification plan was not quite finished, it put Paris on the map as the most beautiful city of the world. The modern city developed by Hausmann included large boulevard system, panoramic axes of the cities most beautiful monuments, open places like Republique and Etoile, buildings including theEglise de la Trinité and Opera Garnier, railway stations and the parcs Montsouris, Buttes Chaumont and Monceau. Butte Chaumont was in fact a park made upon an artificial hill built from leftover rubble!  Louis Napoleon’s excitement got a bit carried away. He proudly gave guided tours of the cities fortresses. The Prussians, who were taking mental note, returned a few years later to the city as conquerors instead of tourists!
While the only remaining artifact from the 1855 expo is the Theatre du Rond Point near the Champs-Elysee, Haussmann’s urban beautification continues to inspire the tourist today as it did then!

1889
On the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, Paris would host the World’s Fair and gain its national symbol. It was for this fair that the Eiffel Tower was built as a temporary structure to display the abilities of iron. When it was built, it was the tallest man made structure in the world. Most Parisian citizens found the tower controversial and flat out ugly! Writer, architects and other famous Parisians made a petition to take it down. One writer even claimed to prefer taking his coffee in the café in the Eiffel Tower just so he would not have to see it on the horizon! Parisians eventually became use to the structure. It remained the tallest building in the world for 42 years, until the construction of the Chrysler Building and France’s symbol ever since. Today it is the most visited monument in the world.
Besides the tallest man made structure, this was also the first Fair where electricity was used. The entire city was lit up for the even, including the Eiffel Tower. Other highlights from abroad included movies with sound and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show!

1990
The splendor of the 1889 Expo still fresh and Paris’s adoption of the Eiffel Tower created a buzz in the city to celebrate the turn of the century with greatest expo of them all. This World Fair would be the most sumptuous, most amazing Expo! The venue stretched along the Seine from Trocadero and the Champ de Mars to the Invalides Esplanade and Champs Elysee Clemenceau. One of the highlights of the event was an electric tramway that allowed visitors to move without fatigue from pavilion to pavilion. The first metro line (line 1) was also revealed at the Fair.

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Electric Bike

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