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Italian Pavilion built for the 1939 New York World's Fair (from the Official Catalog of the Italian pavilion published by the General Commissioner of Italy, 1939). Source: L'Italia all'Esposizione Universale di New-York 1940 (Rome: Commissario Generale d'Italia, 1940), cover page.
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This article considers the involvement of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. It considers the form, function, and content of the Italian Pavilion designed for this fair and asserts that the prefabricated monumental structure would be best interpreted, not in isolation, but as an element of the larger architectural con...
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Context 1
... answer such a question, it is best to consider the prefabricated Fascist structure which dominated the Italian national pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair (Figure 2) part of the larger architectural conversation which continued to unfold across contemporary fascist Europe. Reevaluation of this structure in the section entitled 'The Italian Pavilion' will make it possible to consider the relationship between state design and the assertion of political will, national identity, and cultural heritage within a larger, transnational context. ...
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... Bringing new consumer goods and influencing popular culture, aviation did not only bring American ideas to the rest of the world, but also raised the American society's curiosity to international matters (Van Vleck, 2013). Thus, New York's World Fair of [1939][1940] illustrated both the country's excitement for progressive breakthroughs from all around the world, and its denial of rising armed tensions in Europe and Asia (Rydell, 1990;Fortuna, 2019). Although not fully independent, Iceland was invited to participate in the fair, but the head organizer had implied that an entire building would not be allocated to Reykjavik. ...
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This essay is the third preliminary version of a paper that I intend to publish as an article in an architectural-historical journal or a relevant collection of papers. This third version has a different line of argumentation compared to earlier versions. It is based on research of scholarly literature and topographical and written sources that I have been able to consult, having done my research without any outside funding in my spare time. No original archival documents were consulted and unfortunately I have not yet been able to read all the literature that I expect to be relevant. I hope that connaisseurs of the material will feel challenged to test my hypotheses on their knowledge and material, and will thereby be able to shed more light on the matter. I am most curious of what scholars in the relevant fields (E.42, Roman urban planning, Fascist planning and politics, etc.) think of the content of this paper, so I'd be happy if you would let me know. Thank you for reading this paper. Wim Boerefijn Esposizione Universale di Roma 1942 (E.42): Monument to Mussolini's Imperial Ambitions A Hypothesis on Meaning of Location and Layout. This article is about the urbanistic project of the 'Esposizione Universale di Roma' (also known as EUR or E.42), the 'city' that was created to stage the World's fair of 1942 on the outskirts of Rome under the dictatorial fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. (fig.1) Much has already been written about it, in particular about its architectural style. This article, however, is about the symbolic meaning of its location and its orientation in relation to its layout and its function. The original sources are clear about the fact that the exposition area was to reconnect Rome to the sea and to the seaside town of Ostia, which was intended to revive the ancient port of Ostia Antica. This was not just a matter of straightforward spatial planning but even more so of spatial symbolism, as Ostia stood not just for Rome's access to the coast, but also for ancient Rome's rule over the Mediterranean, the 'Mare Nostrum´. I believe that I can contribute some new ideas that build on this matter. I have two new hypotheses, which are interconnected and rather speculative in character. The first is that the axis of E.42 was to become the culmination point of a new triumphal route, where the most important monuments in celebration of fascism and its empire were intended to be built. The second is that the layout of E.42, and particularly the central axis, was oriented on Mussolini's residence on the one hand and on Tunis or the ancient city of Carthage on the other. In this way, the universal exposition was secretly meant for the (symbolical) honouring of 'Duce' Mussolini and his imperial ambitions, and under the guise of peaceful international cooperation it was, in a sense, a trap for other countries to implicitly contribute to these imperial ambitions and their celebration. Unfortunately, I am not able to substantiate my arguments with hard evidence, but I will try to make them plausible by circumstantial evidence and comparison. If there is any truth in my ideas, they demonstrate that the project for E.42 was even more megalomaniac than it already appeared to be. 1 1 I have been able to do my research and write this article thanks to the kind help of Reinout Rutte, Romke
This essay is the second preliminary version of a paper that I intend to publish as an article in an architectural-historical journal or a relevant collection of papers.
This article is about the urban project of the ‘Esposizione Universale di Roma’ (also known as EUR or E42), the ‘city’ that was created to stage the World’s fair of 1942 in Rome under the fascist regime of dictator Benito Mussolini. (fig.1) Much has already been written about it, in particular about its architectural style, but I believe that I can contribute some new ideas as to its original urbanistic design. I have three new hypotheses, which are interconneted and rather speculative in character. The first is that the whole layout was oriented on Mussolini’s residence. The second is that it was also oriented on Tunis or the ancient city of Carthage. And the third is that the whole project for the universal exposition was secretly meant for the (symbolical) honouring of the ‘Duce’ and his imperial ambitions, and that under the guise of peaceful international cooperation it was in a sense a trap for the international community to implicitly contribute to these imperial ambitions.
Unfortunately, I am not able to substantiate my arguments with hard evidence, but I wil try to make them plausible by circumstantial evidence and comparison. If there is any truth in my ideas, they demonstrate that the plan for E42 was even more megalomanic than it already appeared to be and that the aspect of personality cult of the leader was even stronger than it already seemed.
