Exposition Internationale de la houille blanche

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Poster for the exhibition printed by the PLM railway company
Area in front of the exhibition

L'Exposition internationale de la houille blanche et du tourisme ( French for International Hydropower and Tourism Exhibition , literally: ... white coal and tourism ) took place in 1925 in the east of Grenoble , today's Parc Paul Mistral around the Tour Perret . The fair stood in the tradition of similar exhibitions in 1914 (in Lyon) and the Congrès de la houille blanche 1902 (Congress of the white coal) .

background

In 1923, Léon Jaussely (1875–1932) was commissioned as an architect and town planner to plan the development of the 20 hectare site in Grenoble for the International Hydropower Exhibition. As a secondary goal, the city, which then had 100,000 inhabitants, intended to expand this area. In cooperation with the railway company Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM), the city in the Bajatière district developed a project to develop a centenary urban plan. After 1930 this area became part of a new exhibition area, which was also included in the 1968 Winter Olympics .

Grenoble was a fortress city ("place forte") until the end of the 19th century . Extensive plans broke this old corset and developed an urban renewal in south and east direction. Planning of spacious boulevards and new city quarters such as the "Projet Mutualité" were also part of it. The Polygone du Génie , located directly in front of the fortress walls, was to be converted into the exhibition area (“Création d'un polygone exceptionnel de la Croix-Rouge”). By decree of February 10, 1913, despite the resistance of the military, it was renatured, but it was not finally prepared for the exhibition until 1923 with the reason: "Parc un peu sauvage, peuplé de beaux arbres, facile à transformer en un jardin ombragé" ("somewhat wilder Park with a few trees, easy to convert into a shady garden ”).

Grenoble was the center of electrification from the beginning of electrical power generation : In 1883 Marcel Depréz succeeded in transmitting direct current over a distance of 14 kilometers to Grenoble in the old granary. A generator driven by a water turbine in the cement works in Vizille generated 3146 V at 1140 rpm, a motor in Grenoble ran at a measured voltage of 2231 V at a speed of 875 rpm. While the first conference in 1902 was still about concessions and rights of use, the main focus now was on the applications of electricity and advertising for tourism in the region in which it was emerging.

Above all, Aristide Bergès made a significant contribution to the use of hydropower at this location . The location of the fair must therefore be seen as an appreciation of these achievements. Aristide Bergès, from whom the name white coal goes back, was very committed to hydropower as part of his own entrepreneurship.

“Cette nouvelle force industrial est appelée d'un nom définitiv: la houille blanche. De la houille blanche, dans tout cela, il n'y en a pas; ce n'est évidemment qu'une métaphore. Mais J'ai voulu employer ce mot pour frapper l'imagination et signaler avec vivacité que les montagnes et les glaciers peuvent, étant employés en forces motrices, être, pour leur région et pour l'Etat, des richesses aussi précieuses que la houille des profondeurs. "

“This new industrial force is given a specific name: white coal. Of course there is no white coal; this is nothing more than an obvious metaphor. But I wanted to use the word to inspire the imagination and to report intensely that the mountains and glaciers, which provide the driving forces, are just as valuable for their region and for the state as the coal from the depths. "

- Aristide Bergès ' public speech at the Paris World's Fair in 1889 .

exhibition

The exhibition was extremely successful. Over a million visitors came within five months. It was divided into three parts: the actual white coal , industry and telegraphy and the tourism sector . Numerous innovative and remarkable buildings had been erected. At the entrance is the 18-meter-high, filigree entrance gate, at the central point the Tour Perret observation tower , the over 100-meter-long central pavilion Palais de la houille blanche , the 140-meter-long Palais des transports et industries touristiques , the 90-meter long Palais des chemins de fer , the African village with representatives from the Congo , Niger , Sudan and Mauritania , country pavilions from Sweden and Italy , the foreigners pavilion with representations from Great Britain , Germany , Norway and some other, then important industrial nations as well as other exhibition pavilions of related professional groups such as the foresters, the tourism industry and regional craftsmanship. The almost 100 meter high observation tower made of concrete is the last structure that has been preserved from then.

The illuminated fountain system and the exhibition area illuminated with 40,000 lightbulbs and 40 kilometers of cable were viewed as particularly impressive. The reconstructed Alpine village with its chapel and fountain also attracted special attention. This reconstruction of the interior was possible thanks to the collaboration with the curator of the Museum Dauphinois Hippolyte Müller (1865–1933), who bought furniture and decorations from craftsmen and traders, including those from the grocer, in a long administrative work. The objects came from Saint-Vérand, 20 kilometers west of Grenoble .

literature

Web links

Commons : Exposition internationale de la houille blanche  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jean-François Parent: Cent ans d'urbanisme
  2. ↑ Philippe Grandvoinnet: Les emprises militaires dans l'urbanisme grenoblois du XXe siècle: des opportunités foncières au patrimoine paysager , Ministère de la culture et de la communication, direction générale des patrimoines, June 22, 2011 (French)
  3. ↑ Histoire de l'hydroelectricite on Hydroweb (French)
  4. ↑ M. Pillet: Les Droits des riverains des cours d'eau ni navigables ni flottables. Extrait des comptes rendus des travaux du congrès. 7-13 September 1902, p. 4 (French)
  5. ↑ Bergès' biography 'on the Toulouse pages' ( Memento of May 21, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (French)
  6. ↑ Quoted from: Georges Jalouste: La Houille Blanche et son régime légal . Université de Paris, 1902, p. 2