World Exhibition

01/04/1867 - 03/11/1867

Agriculture, Industry and Fine Arts

Official Designation
Exposition Universelle de Paris 1867

Area (ha)


Participants (Countries)

It was the second World Expo hosted in French capital. Its objective was to improve understanding between nations and foster peace.

The invention of the Expo Pavilion concept

The goal of the Expo was not only to bring produce from foreign countries and expose them at the Fair, but also to showcase different ways of life from all over the world and to allow interaction between different cultures through a new feature: the national pavilions. They provided a space in which countries could display there culture, their history and their innovations. The pavilions were to become the trademark of all future Expos.

The innovations showcased

Very innovative products appeared at this exhibition such as the new diver to swim under water, but also one that resists fire, a hydraulic elevator, reinforced concrete and machinery manufacturing soft drinks.

The key attractions

The Promenade, the park, restaurants of different nations, pavilions and different designs ranging from chapels to the lighthouse, the Egyptian Palace and the Russian village are a few examples of the diversity and impressive exhibitions showcased. It is also on the occasion of the exhibition of 1867 that the "bateaux-mouches" made their first appearance on the Seine as a means of transportation for tourists.

An Expo of great prestige and diplomatic influence

As no other World Exposition before it, the Exposition Universelle 1867 attracted the regents of the whole world. For the first time, even the Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz left his country to take part in the meeting of nations' representatives. This unbroken parade of princely visits went on for six months, a parade which was popularly known as the "Ballet of Nations". And even the rulers of the three continental powers who had fought against Napoleon I up until the year 1814 returned to Paris for the first time: the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I, the Prussian King Wilhelm I with his Chancellor Bismarck and the Russian Tsar Alexander II.