Exposition internationale de l'eau (1939)

EXPO Liège 1939
Overview
BIE-class	Specialized exposition
Name	Exposition internationale de l'eau de 1939
Building	Albert Canal
Area	70 hectares (170 acres)
Participant(s)
Countries	8
Location
Country	Belgium
City	Liège
Venue	Parc Astrid
Coordinates	50°39′6.8″N 05°36′37.8″E / 50.651889°N 5.610500°E / 50.651889; 5.610500
Timeline
Opening	May 20, 1939 (1939-05-20)
Closure	September 2, 1939 (1939-09-02)
Specialized expositions
Previous	Second International Aeronautic Exhibition in Helsinki
Next	Urbanisme 47 in Paris
Universal Expositions
Previous	Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne in Paris
Next	Exposition internationale du bicentenaire de Port-au-Prince in Port-au-Prince
Simultaneous
Universal	1939 New York World's Fair

The Exposition internationale de la technique de l'eau de 1939 was the third specialized exposition recognized by the Bureau of International Expositions. In 1936 Georges Truffaut proposed an exposition to celebrate the completion of the Albert Canal. The exposition's theme was water management and opened on 20 May 1939 by King Leopold III of Belgium. The canal itself was opened on 30 July 1939.

The exposition was situated on 70 hectares land and 30 hectares water on both riverbanks between the Albert Canal and the Atlas Bridge. On the site were exhibition halls, restaurants, attractions and a Meuse village with replicas of building from the Meuse valley. A part of the site was on land reclaimed from an inavigatable part of the Meuse.^[1] An aerial cableway provided a panoramic view over the site.

The exposition was scheduled to November 1939, but on 31 August explosives under the Val Benoit Bridge and the Ougrée Bridge detonated by lightning, resulting in 20 fatalities and 24 injured. The explosives were placed by the Belgian Army wanting the bridges destroyed in case of war. When the real war started the day after it was decided to close the exposition immediately.

Pavilions

Germany

The German Pavilion

The German pavilion was similar to the one in Paris two years before. The pavilion, on the left riverbank was designed by architect Emil Fahrenkamp.

Nazi Germany didn't want to spend money outside Germany. The building materials and equipment were imported from Germany and had to be transported from the Belgian-German border 35 km east of Liège. Every morning the contractors and engineers were transported from Germany by bus or lorry to the site in Liège. The whole column returned to Germany in the evening.^[2]

France

The French Pavilion

The French contribution consisted of three exhibition halls on the right riverbank. The buildings designed by Allix had a surface of 8000 m².

References

↑ L'Illustration, 24 juin 1939, p.301.
↑ Isabelle Ledoux, "L'Exposition de l'Eau - Liège 1939", in Art&fact n° 29. L'architecture au XXe siècle à Liège, Liège, 2010, blz. 40-49.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Exposition de l'Eau Liège 1939.

List of world's fairs and expositions in Belgium

Exposition Universelle d'Anvers (1885)
Grand Concours International des Sciences et de l'Industrie (1888)
Exposition Internationale d'Anvers (1894)
Brussels International (1897)
Liège International (1905)
Brussels International (1910)
Exposition universelle et internationale (Ghent, 1913)
Exposition internationale coloniale, maritime et d'art flamand (Antwerp, 1930)
Exposition of 1930 (Liège)
Brussels International Exposition (Brussels, 1935)
Exposition internationale de l'eau (Liège, 1939)
Foire coloniale (Brussels, 1948)
Expo '58 (Brussels)

List of world expositions

Retrospectively
recognized
Expositions

BIE recognized
Universal
Expositions

BIE recognized
Specialized
Expositions

BIE recognized
horticultural
Exhibitions (AIPH)

Canceled

Rome 1942
Chicago 1992
Vienna & Budapest 1995
Metro Manila 2002
Seine Saint Denis 2004

Not BIE recognized

Asia	Nanyang 1910 Hangzhou 1929 Nagoya 1937 Shenyang 2006

Oceania	Melbourne 1866 Sydney 1870 Melbourne 1875 Brisbane 1876 Sydney 1879 Dunedin 1889 Christchurch 1906 Auckland 1913–14 Dunedin 1925 Wellington 1939–40

Europe	London 1756 Dublin 1853 Manchester 1857 Porto 1865 London 1871–74 Vienna 1873 Amsterdam 1883 Liverpool 1886 London 1886 Copenhagen 1888 Glasgow 1888 Frankfurt 1891 Prague 1891 Lyon 1894 Oporto 1894 Berlin 1896 Glasgow 1901 Cork 1902 Hanoi 1902 London 1905 London 1906 Marseille 1906 Dublin 1907 London 1908 Zaragoza 1908 London 1910 Dresden 1911 London 1911 London 1912 Lyon 1914 Cologne 1914 London 1914 Kristiania 1914 Malmö 1914 Semarang 1914 London 1921 Marseille 1922 British Empire Exhibition (1924–25) Antwerp 1930 Stockholm 1930 Paris 1931 Porto 1934 Glasgow 1938

North America	New York City 1826–1897 Bryant Park, New York City 1853 Atlanta 1881 Louisville 1883–87 New Orleans 1884 Atlanta 1887 San Francisco 1894 Atlanta 1895 Nashville 1897 Omaha 1898 Buffalo 1901 Charleston 1901–02 Portland, Oregon 1905 Jamestown 1907 Seattle 1909 Knoxville 1913 San Diego 1915–17 Bronx 1918 Philadelphia 1926 San Diego 1935–36 Dallas 1936 Cleveland 1936–37 Dallas 1937 San Francisco 1939–40 New York City 1964–65

South America	Buenos Aires 1910 Rio de Janeiro 1922

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