Paris world fair. The Palace of Illusions (Palais des Illusions)

This archival photograph captures a spectacular, temporary architectural
interior created for a world's fair.

City:
Paris, France.

Location:
Champ de Mars.

Building:
The Palace of Illusions (Palais des Illusions), built inside the
larger Festival Hall (Salle des Fêtes).

Context:
The photograph was taken during the Exposition Universelle (1900
Paris Exposition), a massive world's fair that ran from April 15 to
November 12, 1900. The hall featured an elaborate optical illusion
show designed by Eugène Hénard that utilized motorized mirrors and
electric lights to make the space look infinitely vast.

Materials
used: The grand pillars, statues, and arches seen lining the hallway
were not built out of stone or marble. They were sculpted out of
staff, a lightweight, temporary building material composed of plaster
of Paris, hemp fibre, and cement.

Engineering:
The main framework of the long hall relied on a temporary iron and
glass barrel-vaulted ceiling.

Purpose:
Because the structures at the 1900 Paris Exposition were explicitly
built to celebrate the turn of the century and showcase temporary
optical illusions, they were completely dismantled and demolished
immediately after the world's fair ended in November 1900.

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