Overview

Expo 1855 Paris, officially the “Exposition Universelle des produits de l’Agriculture, de l’Industrie et des Beaux-Arts de Paris 1855,” ran from May 15 to November 15, 1855, on the Champs-Élysées. It was the first international exhibition held in France and the second Expo, after Expo 1851 London. Emperor Napoleon III turned a planned national show of French industry into an event open to all nations. About 24,000 exhibitors took part, half of them from abroad, and the Expo recorded more than 5.1 million visits in 185 days.

From national shows to an international Expo

France had a long tradition of national industrial exhibitions. The first, in September 1798, was organized by Interior Minister François de Neufchâteau to promote French manufacturing against British competition. Ten more followed between 1801 and 1849, growing from 110 exhibitors to 4,452. The Second Republic considered opening the 1849 national exhibition to foreign exhibitors, but French manufacturers objected, and Britain held the first international exhibition instead: the “Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations” in London’s Crystal Palace.

The success in London persuaded Napoleon III. Through a series of decrees issued from 1852 to 1855, including the decree of March 8, 1853, cited by the International Exhibitions Bureau (Bureau International des Expositions, BIE), he ordered a permanent exhibition palace, converted the national exhibition planned for 1854 into a universal exhibition open to every nation and added an exhibition of fine arts. Prince Napoléon, the emperor’s cousin, chaired the imperial commission, and economist Frédéric Le Play served as commissioner general. Most European states accepted the invitation. Russia, then at war with France and Britain in Crimea, did not. In all, 28 countries took part.

The Palais de l’Industrie and the site

The centerpiece was the Palais de l’Industrie, designed by engineer Alexis Barrault and built in 1853 on the Carré Marigny, where the Grand Palais and Petit Palais stand today. It measured about 250 meters (820 feet) by 180 meters (590 feet), with a central nave flanked by two lower aisles under an iron and glass vault 35 meters (115 feet) high. Because exposed metal was not yet thought fit for a monument, the iron frame was wrapped in masonry with 408 windows and a triumphal-arch entrance crowned by Élias Robert’s sculpture of France crowning Art and Industry.

Its 5.5 hectares (13.6 acres) of interior space proved too small, so the organizers added a Galerie des Machines along the Seine, about 1,200 meters (3,940 feet) long and 28 meters (92 feet) wide, and reused Jacques Ignace Hittorff’s 1839 panorama rotunda between the two, linking all three with covered galleries. A separate Palais des Beaux-Arts by architect Hector Lefuel rose on the avenue Montaigne. The exhibition grounds covered 15.2 hectares (37.6 acres).

Peace, progress and the Crimean War

The Expo was meant to celebrate four decades of peace in Europe since Waterloo, yet it opened while France and Britain were fighting Russia in Crimea, and its speeches mixed calls for brotherhood among peoples with national pride. Its program owed much to the followers of Saint-Simon, who saw industry as the path to general well-being: produce more, bring goods within reach of more people, connect nations and honor inventors. The Expo also tried something new by asking employers to nominate their best workers and foremen for awards, though few employers were willing to name skilled staff that rivals might hire away. The emperor, who favored freer trade, hoped the display would bring affordable goods to working families.

Industry and inventions

Inside the Palais de l’Industrie, the products of every participating country stood side by side by type of product, with no national pavilions; those arrived only at Expo 1867 Paris. Britain ranked second to France, a friendly rivalry that mirrored their military alliance. Visitors saw Léon Foucault’s pendulum, Louis Vicat’s hydraulic limes, Joseph-Louis Lambot’s boat of reinforced cement and Christofle’s electroplated silver, which won the emperor’s order for a 100-place service. According to the BIE, many machines appeared before a large public for the first time, among them a lawn mower, a washing machine, a speaking doll, the six-shooter revolver and one of the first vehicles running on oil, while Saint-Gobain showed what was then the largest mirror in the world, 18.4 square meters (198 square feet). The rotunda displayed objects of the imperial household around the Crown Jewels, alongside Samuel Colt’s revolvers, Érard and Pleyel pianos and Adolphe Sax’s saxophones.

In the Galerie des Machines, steam engines ran all day: a Cockerill locomotive, a Crampton locomotive from the Cail works, Hippolyte Marinoni’s printing press and the sewing machines of Singer and Grover & Baker. The Expo also produced one of its most lasting results outside any hall: the official classification of the wines of Bordeaux, drawn up for the occasion.

The fine arts exhibition

Expo 1855 Paris gave the fine arts a far larger place than Expo 1851 London. Artists of all nations were invited to submit works from any period of their careers to a jury of 60, and more than 5,000 paintings hung in the Palais des Beaux-Arts. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Eugène Delacroix each had a room of his own. Ingres became the first artist promoted to grand officer of the Legion of Honor, and Delacroix was named commander. Franz Xaver Winterhalter’s “Empress Eugénie Surrounded by Her Ladies-in-Waiting” was shown for the first time.

Gustave Courbet had 11 of his 13 submissions accepted, but the jury turned down “A Burial at Ornans” and “The Painter’s Studio.” In response, he built his own pavilion on the avenue Montaigne, across from the official galleries, and showed 40 paintings there for an admission of 1 franc. In sculpture, François Rude and Antoine-Louis Barye were among the leading names.

Visitors and diplomacy

Admission was charged and counted with turnstiles: 1 franc on most days, 3 francs on Fridays and 20 centimes on Sundays, the day meant for working families. The government handed out 10,000 free tickets to workers and organized group visits and special trains. Visitors included Emir Abd el-Kader, King Pedro V of Portugal and, from August 18 to 26, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the first visit to Paris by an English sovereign since the Hundred Years’ War. The BIE describes the royal visit as a major diplomatic event that sealed the friendship between Victoria and Napoleon III. Around the grounds, Jacques Offenbach began staging his own musical shows in a small hall on the Champs-Élysées, drawing on the Expo crowds.

Awards, finances and legacy

At the awards ceremony in the Palais de l’Industrie, Hector Berlioz conducted his “Te Deum” and an imperial cantata with about 1,000 musicians and singers, and Napoleon III presented 11,033 diplomas. Financially, the Expo fell short of London’s profit: receipts of about 3.3 million francs against expenses of about 11.5 million francs.

The Palais des Beaux-Arts, the Galerie des Machines and the rotunda were soon demolished. The Palais de l’Industrie served later Expos and was taken down for Expo 1900 Paris to make room for the Grand Palais and Petit Palais; some of its sculptures were moved to the park of Saint-Cloud. Expo 1855 Paris began France’s long run as a host of Expos and showed how an exhibition could serve industry, the arts and diplomacy at once.