1958 Brussels | |
---|---|
Overview | |
BIE-class | Universal exposition |
Category | First category General Exposition |
Name | Expo 58 |
Area | 2 km2 (490 acres) |
Visitors | 41,454,412 |
Participant(s) | |
Countries | 44 |
Location | |
Country | Belgium |
City | Brussels |
Venue | Heysel/Heizel Plateau |
Coordinates | 50°53′50″N4°20′21″E / 50.89722°N 4.33917°E |
Timeline | |
Bidding | 7 May 1948 |
Awarded | November 1953 |
Opening | 17 April 1958 |
Closure | 19 October 1958 |
Universal expositions | |
Previous | Exposition internationale du bicentenaire de Port-au-Prince in Port-au-Prince |
Next | Century 21 Exposition in Seattle |
Specialized Expositions | |
Previous | Interbau in Berlin |
Next | Expo 61 in Turin |
Horticultural expositions | |
Next | Floriade 1960 in Rotterdam |
Expo 58, also known as the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (French : Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles de 1958, Dutch : Brusselse Wereldtentoonstelling van 1958), was a world's fair held on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Brussels, Belgium, from 17 April to 19 October 1958. [1] It was the first major world's fair registered under the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) after World War II.
Expo 58 was the eleventh world's fair hosted by Belgium, and the fifth in Brussels, following the fairs in 1888, 1897, 1910 and 1935. In 1953, Belgium won the bid for the next world's fair, winning out over other European capitals such as Paris and London.
Nearly 15,000 workers spent three years building the 2 km2 (490 acres) site on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau, 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) north-west of central Brussels. Many of the buildings were re-used from the 1935 World's Fair, which had been held on the same site. [2]
The theme of Expo 58 was "Bilan du monde, pour un monde plus humain" (in English: "Evaluation of the world for a more humane world"), a motto inspired by faith in technical and scientific progress, as well as post-war debates over the ethical use of atomic power. [3]
The exhibition attracted some 41.5 million visitors, making Expo 58 the second largest World's Fair after the 1900 Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Paris, which had attracted 48 million visitors. [3] Every 25 years starting in 1855, Belgium had staged large national events to celebrate its national independence following the Belgian Revolution of 1830. However, the Belgian Government under Prime Minister Achille Van Acker decided to forego celebrations in 1955 to have additional funding for the 1958 Expo. [4] Since Expo 58, Belgium has not organised any more world's fairs.
More than forty nations took part in Expo 58, with more than forty-five national pavilions, not including those of the Belgian Congo and Belgium itself.
The site is best known for the Atomium, a giant model of a unit cell of an iron crystal (each sphere representing an atom). During the 1958 European exposition, the molecular model hosted an observation of more than forty-one million visitors while refining an astonishment for atomism by distant global communities. [5] [6] The atomistic model was opened with a call for world peace and social and economic progress, issued by King Baudouin I. The Atomium was originally foreseen to last only the six months of the exhibition; but it was never taken down, its outer coating was renewed on the 50th anniversary of the exhibition, and it stands nowadays as just as much an emblem of Brussels as the Eiffel Tower is of Paris.
Notable exhibitions include the Philips Pavilion, where "Poème électronique", commissioned specifically for the location, was played back from 425 loudspeakers, placed at specific points as designed by Iannis Xenakis, and Le Corbusier. [7]
The Belgian Congo section was located in 7.7 hectares (19 acres) in close proximity to the Atomium model. The Belgian Congo, today known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was at that time a Belgian colonial holding. Expo organizers also included participants from the UN Trust Territories of Ruanda-Urundi (today, Rwanda and Burundi) in the Belgian Congo section, without differentiation. [8] This section was divided into seven pavilions: the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi Palace, agriculture; Catholic missions; insurance, banks, trade; mines and metallurgy; energy, construction, and transport; a village indigène (indigenous village). The Belgian Congo section was, above all, intended to display the "civilizing" work of the Belgian colonialism. [3] The village indigène is of the most notable modern "human zoos" of the 20th century. [9]
Another exhibition at the Belgian pavilion was the Congolese village that some have branded a human zoo. [10]
The Ministry of Colonies built the Congolese exhibit, intending to demonstrate their claim to have "civilized" the "primitive Africans." Native Congolese art was rejected for display, as the Ministry claimed it was "insufficiently Congolese." Instead, nearly all of the art on display was created by Europeans in a purposefully primitive and imitative style, and the entrance of the exhibit featured a bust of King Leopold II, under whose colonial rule millions of Congolese died. The 700 Congolese chosen to be exhibited by the Ministry were educated urbanites referred to by Belgians as évolués , meaning literally "evolved," but were made to dress in "primitive" clothing, and an armed guard blocked them from communicating with white Belgians who came to observe them. The exotic nature of the exhibit was lauded by visitors and international press, with the Belgian socialist newspaper Le Peuple praising the portrayal of Africans, saying it was "in complete agreement with historical truth." However, in mid-July the Congolese protested the condescending treatment they were receiving from spectators and demanded to be sent home, abruptly ending the exhibit and eliciting some sympathy from European newspapers. [3]
The Austrian pavilion was designed by Austrian architect Karl Schwanzer in modernist style. It was later transferred to Vienna to host the museum of the 20th century. In 2011 it was reopened under the new name 21er Haus. It included a model Austrian Kindergarten, which doubled as a day care facility for the employees, the Vienna Philharmonic playing behind glass, and a model nuclear fusion reactor that fired every 5 minutes.
The exposition "One Day in Czechoslovakia" was designed by Jindřich Santar who cooperated with artists Jiří Trnka, Antonín Kybal, Stanislav Libenský and Jan Kotík. Architects of the simple, but modern and graceful construction were František Cubr, Josef Hrubý and Zdeněk Pokorný. The team's artistic freedom, so rare in the hard-line communist regime of the 1950s, was ensured by the government committee for exhibitions chairman František Kahuda. He supported the famous Laterna Magika show, as well as Josef Svoboda's technically unique Polyekran. The Czechoslovak pavilion was visited by 6 million people and was officially awarded the best pavilion of the Expo 58. [11]
The West German pavilion was designed by the architects Egon Eiermann and Sep Ruf. The world press called it the most polished and sophisticated pavilion of the exhibition. [12]
The Liechtenstein pavilion featured a bronze bust of Franz Joseph II at the entrance, a collection of weapons, stamps, and important historical documents from the Principality, paintings from the Prince's personal collection, and exhibits showcasing Liechtenstein's industry, landscape, and religious history. Also featured in the building was an interior garden with a circular walkway enabling visitors to browse the entire pavilion. [13]
This was designed by the architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez. It was awarded the exposition's star of gold.
The city of Paris had its own pavilion, separate from the France exhibit.
This was produced by the designer James Gardner, architect Howard Lobb and engineer Felix Samuely. The on-site British architect was Michael Blower, Brussels born and bilingual. [14]
The Soviet pavilion was a large impressive building which was folded up and taken back to Russia when Expo 58 ended. There was a bookstore selling science and technology books in English and other languages published by the Moscow Press.
The Brussels exhibit featured a celestial mechanics display of the experimental Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2 prototypes placed into orbit during the International Geophysical Year. [15] The robotic spacecraft was low earth orbital satellite which debuted as the Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957 for an international spectators observation from the surface of the earth. The spacecraft completed the geocentric orbit upon depleting the silver zinc battery capacity for an atmospheric entry of the earth's atmosphere on 4 January 1958.
The Belgium exposition highlighted a model of the Soviet Union's watercraft vessel Lenin the first nuclear-powered icebreaker, and Soviet automobiles: GAZ-21 Volga, GAZ-13 Chaika, ZIL-111, Moskvitch 407 and 423, trucks GAZ-53 and MAZ-525. [16] The Soviet exposition was awarded with a Grand Prix. [16]
The US pavilion was quite spacious and included a fashion show with models walking down a large spiral staircase, an electronic computer that demonstrated a knowledge of history, and a colour television studio behind glass. It also served as the concert venue for performance by the Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Edward Lee Alley. [17] [18] It was designed by architect Edward Durell Stone. It would also play host to the University of California Marching Band which had financed its own way to the fair under the direction of James Berdahl. [19] The United States pavilion consisted of 4 buildings, [20] one of which hosted America the Beautiful, a 360° movie attraction in Circarama made by Walt Disney Productions. [21] The film would subsequently travel to the American National Exhibition in Moscow in 1959, [22] and would find its first American audiences at Disneyland in Anaheim in 1960.
The pavilion of Yugoslavia was designed by the architect Vjenceslav Richter, who originally proposed to suspend the whole structure from a giant cable-stayed mast. When that proved too complicated, Richter devised a tension column consisting of six steel arches supported by a pre-stressed cable, which stood in front of the pavilion as a visual marker and symbolized Yugoslavia's six constituent republics. Filled with modernist art, the pavilion was praised for its elegance and simplicity and Richter was awarded as Knight of the Order of the Belgian Crown. After the end of Expo 58, the pavilion was sold and reconstructed as a school in the Belgian municipality of Wevelgem, where it still stands.
The autograph of Mozart's Requiem was placed on display. At some point, someone was able to gain access to the manuscript, tearing off the bottom right-hand corner of the second to last page (folio 99r/45r), containing the words "Quam olim d: C:". As of 2012 [update] the perpetrator has not been identified and the fragment has not been recovered. [23]
The event offered the occasion for the organization by thousands of critics and filmmakers from all over the world, of the first universal film poll in history. [24] The poll received nominations from 117 critics from 26 nations. Броненосец Потёмкин (Battleship Potemkin) received 100 votes with The Gold Rush second with 95. [25]
A jury of young filmmakers (Robert Aldrich, Satyajit Ray, Alexandre Astruc, Michael Cacoyannis, Juan Bardem, Francesco Maselli and Alexander Mackendrick) were due to select a winner from the nominees but voted not to. Instead they indicated the following as still holding value to young filmmakers: Battleship Potemkin; Grand Illusion; Mother; The Passion of Joan of Arc; The Gold Rush and Bicycle Thieves. [26]
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specific site for a period of time, typically between three and six months.
The Atomium is a landmark modernist building in Brussels, Belgium, originally constructed as the centrepiece of the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. Designed by the engineer André Waterkeyn and the architects André and Jean Polak as a tribute to scientific progress, as well as to symbolise Belgian engineering skills at the time, it is located on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Laeken, where the exhibition took place. It is the city's most popular tourist attraction, and serves as a museum, an art centre and a cultural destination.
The Heysel Plateau or Heysel Park, usually shortened to Heysel or Heizel, is a neighbourhood, park and exhibition space in Laeken, northern Brussels, Belgium, where the Brussels International Exposition of 1935 and the 1958 Brussels World's Fair took place.
The Bureau international des expositions is an intergovernmental organization created to supervise international exhibitions falling under the jurisdiction of the Convention Relating to International Exhibitions.
Laeken or Laken is a residential suburb in the north-western part of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. It belongs to the municipality of the City of Brussels and is mostly identified by the Belgian postal code: 1020. Prior to 1921, it was a separate municipality.
The Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne was held from 25 May to 25 November 1937 in Paris, France. Both the Palais de Chaillot, housing the Musée de l'Homme, and the Palais de Tokyo, which houses the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, were created for this exhibition that was officially sanctioned by the Bureau International des Expositions. A third building, Palais d'Iéna, housing the permanent Museum of Public Works, which was originally to be among the new museums created on the hill of Chaillot on the occasion of the Exhibition, was not built until January 1937 and inaugurated in March 1939.
The Japan World Exposition, Osaka, 1970 or Expo '70 was a world's fair held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan between March 15 and September 13, 1970. Its theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." In Japanese, Expo '70 is often referred to as Ōsaka Banpaku (大阪万博). It was the first world's fair held in Japan and in Asia.
Expo '75 was a World's Fair held on the island of Okinawa in Japan from July 20, 1975, to January 18, 1976.
The Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA), communicating under the name AfricaMuseum since 2018, is an ethnography and natural history museum situated in Tervuren in Flemish Brabant, Belgium, just outside Brussels. It was originally built to showcase King Leopold II's Congo Free State in the International Exposition of 1897.
Heysel or Heizel is a Brussels Metro station on the northern branch of line 6. It is located in Laeken, in the north-west of the City of Brussels, Belgium, and serves the Heysel/Heizel Plateau, famous for the World's Fairs of 1935 and 1958, the King Baudouin Stadium and the Atomium. The Bruparck entertainment park and the Centenary Palace, home to the Brussels Exhibition Centre, are also located nearby.
The Expo 67 International and Universal Exposition featured 90 pavilions representing Man and His World, on a theme derived from Terre des Hommes, written by the famous French pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Victor Bourgeois was a Belgian architect and urban planner, considered the greatest Belgian modernist architect.
The Brussels International Exposition of 1935 was a world's fair held between 27 April and 6 November 1935 on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Brussels, Belgium.
Christine Conix is a Belgian architect whose projects have been described as innovative and diverse and creative. She created her firm Conix Architects in 1979 in the Antwerp city of Wilrijk; by 2007, her firm employed 67 people and by 2014, it had offices in Brussels, Warsaw, Rotterdam, Terneuzen, with the head office in Antwerp. In 2013, Conix architects won a contract to rebuild a Moroccan city named Nador to transform it into a center for economics and tourism, which involves constructing critical infrastructure such as houses, schools, and hospitals. Conix Architects designed a renovation and expansion for the Atomium in Belgium, a structure originally built for the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels. It designed the Belgian pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai in 2010. Her firm won a contest among 28 architectural firms agencies for architectural work relating to the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Conix believes intuition should play a large role in architectural design, and believes in sustainability, and sees no significant difference between men and women today in the field of architecture. She studied architecture at the Hoger Instituut voor Architectuurwetenschappen Henry van de Velde in Antwerp.
The Brussels International Exposition of 1897 was a world's fair held in Brussels, Belgium, from 10 May 1897 through 8 November 1897. There were 27 participating countries, and an estimated attendance of 7.8 million people.
The Ghent International Exposition of 1913 was a world's fair held in Ghent, Belgium, from 26 April to 3 November 1913.
The Brussels International Exposition of 1910 was a world's fair held in Brussels, Belgium, from 23 April to 1 November 1910. This was just thirteen years after Brussels' previous world's fair. It received 13 million visitors, covered 88 hectares and lost 100,000 Belgian francs.
The Brussels Exhibition Centre, also known as Brussels Expo, is the primary event complex in Brussels, Belgium. Located on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Laeken, the twelve halls that comprise it are used for the largest national and international trade fairs, exhibitions and other events. With 115,000 m2 (1,240,000 sq ft) of facility space, they constitute the largest exhibition space in the Benelux. They are also a remarkable witness to the evolution of construction techniques during the 20th century.
Events in the year 1958 in Belgium.
Design Museum Brussels is a museum located in the Heysel/Heizel Park in Brussels, Belgium, close to the Atomium. The space focuses on design works from the 20th and 21st centuries. It was formerly called the Art and Design Atomium Museum (ADAM) until 2020. The size of the museum is 5,000 m2 (54,000 sq ft) and it received about 126,000 visitors in 2019. Arnaud Bozzini is the museum's director.
Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra performs at the Brussels World Fair 1958
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