Exposición Universal de Barcelona (1888)
| Exposición Internacional de Barcelona 1888 | |
|---|---|
 Official opening poster of the Exposició Universal de Barcelona 1888 |
|
| General | |
| Exhibition space | 46.5 ha |
| Number of visitors | 2.3 million |
| BIE recognition | Yes |
| participation | |
| countries | 30 countries |
| Exhibitors | 12,900 exhibitors |
| Place of issue | |
| place | Barcelona |
| terrain |
Parc de la Ciutadella Coordinates: 41 ° 23 ′ 17 ″ N , 2 ° 11 ′ 15 ″ E
|
| calendar | |
| opening | April 8, 1888 |
| closure | December 9, 1888 |
| Chronological order | |
| predecessor | Glasgow 1888 |
| successor | Paris 1889 |
The Exposición Internacional de Barcelona of 1888 was a world exhibition and took place between April 8 and December 9, 1888 in the Spanish city of Barcelona . 12,900 exhibitors took part in the exhibition, 66 percent of them from Spain. It received a total of 2.3 million visitors from all over the world.
The official opening took place on May 20th by the then two-year-old King Alfonso XIII. , represented by his mother María Cristina as regent of Spain.
prehistory
In 1888 Barcelona had 530,000 inhabitants and was politically the second most important city in Spain; economically and industrially the most important. Spain went through the Bourbon Restoration , and Práxedes Mateo Sagasta ruled under the reign of Maria Cristina , widow of King Alfonso XII , who died in 1885 . and mother of Alfonso XIII .
The holding of the World's Fair of 1888 reflected the good relationship between the monarchy, restored after the September Revolution of 1868 , and the Catalan industrial bourgeoisie. It had supported the return of the monarchy in anticipation of social peace and economic development.
World exhibitions had gained great importance since the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 . They were considered the most important political, economic and social events in the world. Each country was able to show its technical progress and present its economic and industrial potential. A world exhibition provided the host city with an opportunity to develop economically and conveyed a great international reputation.
The entrepreneur Eugenio Serrano took the initiative for a world exhibition in Barcelona . However, he proved unable to cope with this major event. Therefore, in April 1887, the Mayor of Barcelona, Francesc Rius i Taulet, took over the management of the project and surrounded himself with a group of other entrepreneurs in the city. Together with the mayor, they formed the "Committee of Eight". Among them was the architect Elies Rogent , who was responsible for site management . He was u. a. Teacher of Lluís Domènech i Montaner and Antoni Gaudí .
Exhibition area
The gateway to the 46.5 hectare exhibition area was the Arc de Triomf designed by the architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas . The site stretched from the Parc de la Ciutadella , today's Barcelona Zoo , through part of what is now the Estació de França train station to La Barceloneta , where the Hospital del Mar hospital is now .
The exhibition buildings, which had been designed by the most renowned architects of the time, were located on around a quarter of the site. The most important building was the Palau de la Indústria with 70,000 square meters. Three buildings from the citadel's military era that have survived have also been used: the Palau del Governador , the arsenal and the chapel. After renovations in 1889, 1900 and 1932, the arsenal is now the seat of the Parliament of Catalonia .
As a result of the change in project management, the time to design the world exhibition had become short and the entire organization had to prove its efficiency. The lack of time was also the reason why some buildings could only be designed for temporary use. All that remains is the Arc de Triomf , the then cafe-restaurant of the Castell dels Tres Dragons ('Castle of the Three Dragons') exhibition by Lluis Domenech i Montaner, which is now the city's zoological museum, and the L'Umbracle greenhouse , and the so-called Galeria de les Màquines ('machine hall'), now used as the zoo's operating room.
Improvements in Barcelona
Although the main focus of the World's Fair was within the Exhibition Center, it also led to general improvements across Barcelona. It was an incentive to finish work, some of which had been started many years ago and remained unfinished. It also provided the opportunity to create new infrastructures and services that not only improved the lives of citizens, but also gave the city a modern look.
Some of the measures implemented for the 1888 exhibition were:
- The Parc de la Ciutadella has been developed. When the expo was over, it became the largest park in the city.
- The development of the sea front was completed. The new street Passeig de Colom ('Columbus Promenade') was laid out between the Parc de la Ciutadella and the Rambla .
- On a reclaimed harbor at Passeig de Colom was Gran Hotel Internacional built for 2,000 guests. The four-story luxury hotel designed by Lluis Domenech i Montaner had a floor area of 5000 square meters and was built in a record time of 53 days. It was torn down again after the exhibition.
- The Palau de Belles Arts ('Palace of Fine Arts') was built and is now the seat of the Municipal Court. The official opening of the world exhibition took place in this building in the presence of the royal family. The palace was designed to host art exhibitions, concerts, and cultural events. The Palau de Belles Arts fulfilled this function until 1942.
- The Columbus Column was erected at the intersection of Passeig de Colom and Rambla . It was inaugurated on June 1, 1888 during the World's Fair.
- The immediately adjacent residential district of La Ribera was developed.
- The market hall Mercat del Born , built between 1884 and 1886, was opened.
- The tourist boats Las Golondrinas , which are still popular today for harbor tours , were introduced.
- In addition to the exhibition grounds, the Ramblas , Passeig de Colom and Plaça de Sant Jaume were the first streets of Barcelona to be electrically illuminated.
The Arc de Triomf served as the main entrance gate to the exhibition. It is made of reddish bricks and was built in the so-called Mudéjar style , a new Moorish brick construction
The Zoological Museum in the Castell dels Tres Dragons
The fountain in Parc de la Ciutadella
Gran Hotel Internacional
Antoni Gaudí designed the pavilion for the shipping company Compañía Trasatlántica
Inauguration of the Columbus Column on June 1, 1888
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resonance
Despite a deficit of six million pesetas , the World's Fair was considered a great success, both in terms of the number of visitors and the overall economic benefit for the city. In addition, the exhibition helped develop large areas of the city. Planned at a time of economic depression, it revived the construction industry and the large number of visitors resulted in increased revenues in all of the city's major economic sectors.
Economically, the exhibition of 1888 is seen as the first big step in the Catalan economy towards Europeanization. In 1886, two years before the event, the Cambra Oficial de Comerç, Indústria i Navegació de Barcelona (“Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Seafaring Barcelona”) was founded. Their aim was to protect the interests of Catalan companies and to promote economic exchange, especially with other European countries. At that time, trading was largely limited to the Spanish market.
Despite all the criticism from the proletariat and the republican and Catalan leaders, the organization, implementation and success of the world exhibition confirmed the good relations between the Catalan bourgeoisie and the monarchy in Madrid .
The World's Fair of 1888, the first major event of its kind in Barcelona, went down in the history of the city as a development model. This example was the impetus for other major international events in Barcelona, such as the Exposición Internacional de Barcelona 1929 , the Summer Olympics 1992 or the Forum of Cultures 2004 .
Social and political criticism of the exhibition
Although the exhibition ran smoothly and was considered a success, it was not without criticism:
In the run-up to the world exhibition, thousands of additional construction workers were brought to Barcelona for the extensive work on the exhibition grounds and in many other parts of the city. During this time they worked tirelessly and sometimes under difficult conditions. They realized that they had to join forces to defend their interests and improve their working conditions. Significantly, in August 1888, during the World Exhibition, the UGT union was founded in Barcelona and shortly afterwards the socialist party PSOE held the first congress in its history in Barcelona. The exhibition caused price inflation in Barcelona, causing dissatisfaction among citizens and criticism in the press. Intellectual as well as Republican and Catalan politicians demonstrated publicly against the exhibition. For them, the pact between the Catalan bourgeoisie and the centralized monarchy was harmful to the interests of Catalonia.
Further exhibitions in 1888
In the same year, other large international exhibitions took place, but they were not called "World Exhibition". These were the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition in Melbourne , the International Exhibition of Science, Art and Industry in Glasgow and the Exposição Industrial Portuguesa in Lisbon .
Web links
- Exposición Universal de Barcelona 1888. Bureau International des Expositions (English). Retrieved March 23, 2017 .
- History of Expo 1888 on Liceus.com (Spanish)
- Sites of the Expo 1888 in Barcelona on-line (Catalan, Spanish, English)
Individual evidence
- ^ John E Findling (Ed.): Barcelona 1888. Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions . McFarland & Company, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7864-3416-9 , p. 95.