Powszechna wystawa światowa w Paryżu w 1900 roku. Splendory Trzeciej Republiki

Abstract

The present book is devoted mainly to problems in the presentation and interpretation of architecture and the fine arts at and ‘alongside’ the Universal World Exposition in Paris in 1900. Also touched upon are the epoch-making issues which shaped the ideas behind the world expositions. We consider, among others, such problems as: an outline of the expositions’ genesis, the first attempts at exhibition of industrial goods from various countries as a form of international rivalry, reception of the watchwords of Enlightenment rationalism at the beginning of the 19th century, the influence of the Industrial Revolution, and the universal exhibitions as a realization of the ideas of Count Henri de Saint-Simon. The world expositions became a model for the realization of Saint-Simon’s thought, in which the creations of human thought and handiwork, as well as the power and authority of money, were demonstrated. The Count’s heirs were fascinated by the colonization of unknown lands, deserts and seas; colonization was supposed to cause economic development, and even just the carrying out of colonization gave these activities a political and philosophical dimension.