Paris 1889

Abstract

The 1889 Exposition Universelle, like all other nineteenth century fairs, was mainly concerned with the progress and modernization the "civilized" world had undergone. While many exhibits like the Exposition de l'Economie Sociale and the Galerie des Machines demonstrated new social and economic breakthroughs, others were devoted to the past and to less "developed" cultures. The Street of Cairo exemplified this dichotomy, but a better example was Charles Garnier's Histoire de l'Habitation Humaine. Garnier was a French architect, born in 1825, best known for his design of the Paris Opera House. He was also recognized for his extensive work on the Histoire de l'Habitation Humaine; a subject on which he wrote a book published in 1892, explaining motivation and purpose for the exhibit. According to Nils Muller-Scheessel, who has studied the representation of prehistory at the world's fairs, "Paris 1889 became the international exhibition of prehistoric archaeology" (Muller-Scheessel 2001)