 A distinct symbolic importance was given in 1900 to Finland receiving its own pavilion at the Paris World Expo, designed by young architects Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren and Eliel Saarinen in the so-called Jugendstil style (or Art Nouveau) then popular in Central Europe.The Finnish pavilion was well received by the European press and critics, albeit usually tying the building closely with Finland's cultural-political circumstances.For example, the German art historian and critic Julius Meier-Graefe wrote of the pavilion