The first international world exhibition that took place in the world was in 1851 in London. The idea for the exhibition was Prince Albert, son of Queen Victoria, and the theme: "A great exhibition of the works of industry of all nations".
Since that exhibition in London, the world of exhibitions has gone through processes of great development, and if initially they focused on industrial achievements, and then constituted a place for a meeting of cultures, today the exhibitions are mainly busy with the branding of the exhibiting countries.
The expo exhibitions are held once every five years, and in between - no country is allowed to hold an international exhibition of similar scope.
Although the expo is mainly concerned with the branding of the countries (192 countries exhibited in Dubai - out of 193 countries that exist in the world in total), at each exhibition a central theme is chosen that leads the content, but the theme is not really binding, and each country does what it wants - as long as it makes sure that the name of the theme appears He is also in the exhibition.
The theme this year was by the way - together for a better future, or something like that.
The pavilions of the countries, or as they can be called - the visitor centers, are a purposeful display of iconic architectural monuments, designed to leave an impression on the visitors.
By the way, the Eiffel Tower in Paris was a structure that was temporarily erected for a world exhibition in 1889 - but because of its success and uniqueness, it was not dismantled at the end of the exhibition.
And we will return to the visitor center of UK - or simply England. The pavilion is designed in an unforgettable and obviously impractical way. The exterior building creates an expectation of a special experience, but the visit inside creates a severe disappointment, especially if you crawled in line to enter the building.
After a slow climb up the winding snake, which does incorporate here and there panels with information or designed aquariums with various items, you reach the upper entrance to the building. After a short briefing by an English flight attendant, each visitor stands in line to access a small iPad, in which he fills in basic personal details, and writes only one word that he wants to launch into space. After a short computer processing in which it is made sure that no words that are not worthy of being written have been written, your word will be projected onto one of the 122 (if I didn't miss the count..) ribs on the front of the building. The stewards tell you that all the words will indeed be launched into space. I wasn't sure exactly how and when, but that wasn't the problem.
And that's it! That's the whole story. You finish writing your word on the iPad, go down the stairs and you're out. is this england Where is the glorious history? Where are the knights on the horses? And what about the views? And the culture? none of that. Did we say disappointment?
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