Russia at Expo exhibitionsRussia has always participated in EXPO exhibitions, since the very first one held in London in 1851, and Russian expositions have always managed to amaze the world. Certainly, this trend will continue in the 21st century. The Russian Empire (existed until 1917) considered World Expo both a parade of states and the largest and most comprehensive exhibition with the world’s most successful companies and business people participating. In 1900 the Russian government assigned the tremendous amount of 2,226,895 rubles to organize the Russian department at the Paris World Expo. V.I. Kovalevsky, director of the government’s Trade and Manufacture Department, headed the Organizing commission approved by tzar. Organizers did their best to attract participants to the collective exposition. Companies were granted with various forms of governmental support, including exhibition area toll-free, as well as transportation to Paris and insurance of cargos. The organizers’ hard work resulted in 24,000 square meters of the Russian exposition, and exhibits presented were so numerous, that they were divided into 15 thematic categories, each of them subdivided into 9-10 groups. Those visiting the exposition could acquire themselves with the wealth of Russian manufacturing, down to window glass and affordable pieces of furniture. This tendency continued for all World Expo exhibitions. The Russian government never begrudged spending vast amounts of money to build uniquely beautiful pavilions and to invite best of best decorators, sculptors, and artists. In 1900 at the Paris World Expo, the Russian pavilion was built by Ropet (Petrov), the then famous architect. In 1901 the Glasgow Expo Russian pavilion brought to its’ author, F.A. Shekhtel, two titles at once: Russian Architecture Academician and Honourable Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Later, Soviet pavilions at the 1937th Parissian and 1958th Brusselian Expos received high awards of the respective exhibitions. The USSR Pavilion in Osaka, 1970, entered into the list of the world architecture’s best samples, as its steel construction was built to resemble a flying banner. Besides, exhibits presented by the USSR have always attracted much interest of public. For organizers, it was a great pleasure to have the USSR as a participant, since the standards taken for its’ exposition stimulated other countries to improve their displays in order to better compete for people’s attention. Photogallery |