- Expo '58
Expo 58, also known as the Brussels World’s Fair, Brusselse Wereldtentoonstelling or Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles, was held from
17 April to19 October 1958 [cite web |url=http://flanderstoday.eu/jahia/Jahia/pid/1586 |title=When the world was in Brussels | publisher=Flanders Today | date=April 16, 2008 ] . It was the first majorWorld's Fair afterWorld War II .Nearly 15,000 workers spent three years building the 2 km² site, found on the
Heysel plateau, seven kilometres northwest ofBrussels ,Belgium . Many of the buildings were re-used from theBrussels International Exposition (1935) . The site is best known for a giant model of a unit cell of an iron crystal (each sphere representing anatom ), called theAtomium , which decades later remains one of the best known landmarks of Brussels.More than 42 million visitors visited the site, which was opened with a call for world peace and social and economic progress, issued by King Baudouin I.
The fair is known for a musical milestone, a melding of musical composition and architecture.
Edgard Varèse composed "Poème électronique ," which was recorded to be played back from 425 loudspeakers, placed at specific points in thePhilips Pavilion , designed byIannis Xenakis while under the employ ofLe Corbusier .The fair is also remembered for being the place where
Orson Welles 's "Touch of Evil " was awarded the top prize by then-criticsJean-Luc Godard andFrançois Truffaut , despiteUniversal Studios ' domestic dumping as a B-picture.See also
*
Brussels International Exposition (1935) References
External links
* [http://www.archive.org/details/1958-03-17_Brussels_Worlds_Fair Brussels World's Fair approaches completion] , a
March 17 ,1958 Universalnewsreel clip from theInternet Archive
* [http://www.atomium.be/Gallery.aspx?lang=en&alias=Expo58 Expo '58] and a Flash-based [http://www.atomium.be/ExpoMap.aspx?lang=en interactive map from the Atomium website]
* [http://www.brussels-expo58.be brussels-expo58.be - Celebrating 50 years of Expo 58 in 2008]
* [http://www.monexpo58.be Audiovisual archives about Expo 58.]
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