A chanson des vieux amants?: Belgium and the world’s fairs

The Belgian presence at world’s fair has a long, rich and challenging history. This text demonstrates how the sequence of pavilions and universal exhibitions erected for the representation of Belgium from 1851 onwards displays recurrent questions and reflexes, but also changing ways to link the Belgian voice with architectural commissions. The challenge to represent the Belgian nation has been met over and over again, shaped according to the formats of the era. Belgium, although among the smallest of nations, has always been an important player in the evolution of world’s fairs and the way the nation was and is represented at world’s fairs is telling for the shifts and constancies in the functioning of great exhibitions and for the appreciation of the changing role of architecture in this process.The Belgian presence at world’s fair has a long, rich and challenging history. This text demonstrates how the sequence of pavilions and universal exhibitions erected for the representation of Belgium from 1851 onwards displays recurrent questions and reflexes, but also changing ways to link the Belgian voice with architectural commissions. The challenge to represent the Belgian nation has been met over and over again, shaped according to the formats of the era. Belgium, although among the smallest of nations, has always been an important player in the evolution of world’s fairs and the way the nation was and is represented at world’s fairs is telling for the shifts and constancies in the functioning of great exhibitions and for the appreciation of the changing role of architecture in this process.B