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Paris 1900Investigate

Investigate · Paris 1900

Le Grand Palais depuis le pont Alexandre III à Paris

Le Grand Palais depuis le pont Alexandre III à Paris
1 clue in this photo

1Repeated motif · whole photo

Pont Alexandre III

Today the bridge's ornate lamp standards and a gilded winged figure on a pillar frame the Grand Palais glass dome behind.

The questionBridge and palais were both built for 1900 and both survive. What set them apart from the halls that were cleared?

Photo: Eric Pouhier · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Paris 1900Case file

Same kind of clue, elsewhere

Repeated motif · Philadelphia 1876Medallions and arcades repeated down the naveWere these ornaments cast for 1876, or are they a standard pattern found in other halls of the era?Repeated motif · Paris 1889The Trocadéro already standing through the archHow many of these 'temporary' fair palaces were left standing for the next fair, and what was there before 1878?Repeated motif · Chicago 1893Erechtheion-style caryatid porchesWhy does the same classical vocabulary turn up fair after fair, city after city?Repeated motif · Nashville 1897Greece and Egypt on one groundWhy do Greek and Egyptian forms keep turning up together at these fairs?Repeated motif · Buffalo 1901A skyline of ornate towersWere towers like these power infrastructure first and decoration second?Repeated motif · Paris 1878The Trocadéro core reusedWhat is inside the Palais de Chaillot today?

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