The Arcades Project - Operi

palace erected by Formige. It is characteristic of these enormous fairs to be
ephemeral, yet each of them has left its trace in Paris. The exhibition of 1878 was
responsible for the Trocadero, that eccentric palace clapped down on the top of
Chaillot by Davioud and Botu'dais, and also for the footbridge at Passy, built to
replace the Pont (Plena, which was no longer usable. The exhibition of 1889 left
behind the Galerie des Machines, which was eventually torn down, although the
Eiffel Tower still stands." Dubech and d'Espezel, Histoire de Paris (Paris, 1926),
p. 461. [G4,4]
(,BEurope is off to view the merchandise,' said Renan-contemptuously-of the
1855 exhibition." Paul Morand, 1900 (Paris, 1931), p. 71. [G4,5]
'''This year has been lost for propaganda,' says a socialist orator at the congress of
1900." Paul Morand, 1900 (Paris, 1931), p. 129. [G4,6]
"In 1798, a universal exposition of industry was announced; it was to take place
... on the Champ de Mars. The Directory had charged the minister of the interior,
Franois de Neufchateau, with organizing a national festival to commemorate the
founding of the Republic. The minister had conferred with several people, who
proposed holding contests and games, like greasy-pole climbing. One person suggested
that a great market be set up after the fashion of country fairs, but on a
larger scale. Finally, it was proposed that an exhibition of paintings be included.
These last two suggestions gave Franois de Neufchateau the idea of presenting an
exhibition of industry in celebration of the national festival. Thus, the first industrial
exposition is born from the wish to amuse the working classes, and it becomes
for them a festival of emancipation . ... The increasingly popular character of
industry starts to become evident. ... Silk fabrics are replaced by woolens, and
satin and lace by materials more in keeping with the domestic requirements of the
Third Estate: woolen bonnets and corduroys . ... Chaptal, the spokesman for this
exhibition, calls the industrial state by its name for the first time." Sigmund
Englander, Geschichte de,. j,.anzosischen Arbeite,.-Associationen (Hamburg,
1864), vol. 1, pp. 51-53. [G4,7]
"In celebrating the centenary of the great Revolution, the French bourgeoisie has,
as it were, intentionally set out to demonstrate to the proletariat ad oculos the
economic possibility and necessity of a social uprising. The world exhibition has
given the proletariat an excellent idea of the unprecedented level of development
which the means of production have reached in all civilized lands-a development
far exc.eeding the boldest utopian fantasies of the century preceding this one . ...
The exhibition has further demonstrated that modern development of the forces of
production must of necessity lead to industrial crises that, given the anarchy currently
reigning in production, will only grow more acute with the passage of time,
and hence more destructive to the course of the world economy." G. Plekhanov,
"Wie die Bourgeoisie ihrer Revolution gedenkt," Die neue Zeit, 9, no. 1 (Stuttgart,
1391), p. 138. [G4a,1]