Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Expo 58 - Brussels World’s Fair 12.4.1958
Expo 58, also known as the Brussels World’s Fair (Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles), was held from 17 April to 19 October 1958. It was the first major World's Fair after World War II.
The site is best known for the Atomium, a giant model of a unit cell of an iron crystal (each sphere representing an atom). More than 41 million visitors visited the site, which was opened with a call for world peace and social and economic progress, issued by King Baudouin I.
Notable exhibitions include the Philips Pavilion, where ”Poeme electronique”, commissioned specifically for the location, was played back from 425 loudspeakers, placed at specific points as designed by Iakisannis Xen, and Le Corbusier.
Another exhibition was the Congolese village that was on display. The city of Paris had its own pavilion, separate from the French one. The stamp on this cover features the official French pavilion at the EXPO.
This could really be called an Expo of Lights. Pavilions like France, U.S.S.R. and U.S.A. glowed from inside out like big lit-up boxes of blocks.
Thank you Maria.