Expo '98
Encyclopedia
Expo '98 was an official specialised World's Fair
World's Fair
World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...

 held in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 from Friday, May 22 to Wednesday, September 30, 1998. The theme of the fair was "The Oceans, a Heritage for the Future," chosen in part to commemorate 500 years of Portuguese discoveries
Discovery (observation)
Discovery is the act of detecting something new, or something "old" that had been unknown. With reference to science and academic disciplines, discovery is the observation of new phenomena, new actions, or new events and providing new reasoning to explain the knowledge gathered through such...

. The Expo received around 11 million visitors in 132 days, while 155 countries and organizations were represented.

Before

The idea to organize a World's Fair in Portugal originated in 1989 between two Portuguese, António Taurino Mega Ferreira and Vasco Graça Moura
Vasco Graça Moura
Vasco Navarro da Graça Moura, OSE is a Portuguese lawyer, writer, translator and politician, son of Francisco José da Graça Moura and wife Maria Teresa Amado da Cunha Seixas Navarro de Castro, of Northern Portugal bourgeoisie.He was a Member of the European Parliament for the Social Democratic...

, who were in charge of organizing the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...

's arrival in India in 1498.

Once Government support was obtained, Ferreira led the bid at the Bureau of International Expositions
Bureau of International Expositions
The International Exhibitions Bureau is an intergovernmental organization created to supervise international exhibitions falling under the jurisdiction of the Convention Relating to International Exhibitions....

, which in 1992 declared Lisbon the winner, against the other contender Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. State company Parque Expo was formed to make the Fair a self-sustaining event, with revenue coming from admission tickets and, especially, sales of real estate and parcel lots at the Expo's emplacement.

The first Commissioner
Commissioner
Commissioner is in principle the title given to a member of a commission or to an individual who has been given a commission ....

 of Expo '98 (and Parque Expo's CEO) was António Cardoso e Cunha. He was replaced in 1997 by José de Melo Torres Campos, after a general election resulted in a change in government.

The area chosen for the Expo '98 was a 5 kilometres (3.1 mi)-wide strip that covered 50 hectare (0.193051079296268 sq mi) in Lisbon's east-end alongside the Tagus
Tagus
The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is long, in Spain, along the border between Portugal and Spain and in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. It drains an area of . The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course...

 river.

Expo '98 was fully built from scratch. Every building was pre-sold for after-Expo repurposing thus ensuring that, after the Expo closed, the site would not be left semi-abandoned, as had happened with previous expos, particularly Seville Expo '92
Seville Expo '92
The Universal Exposition of Seville took place from Monday, April 20 to Monday, October 12, 1992 on La Isla de La Cartuja , Seville, Spain. The theme for the Expo was "The Age of Discovery" and over 100 countries were represented...

.

To support the expected influx of visitors, an extensive access program was devised, including:
  • a new bridge across the river, the Vasco da Gama Bridge (then the longest in Europe)
  • a new line along the Lisbon Metro
    Lisbon Metro
    The Lisbon Metro is the metro system of Lisbon, Portugal. Opened in December 1959, it was the first subway system in Portugal.As of 2011, the four Lisbon subway lines total about in length and comprise 52 stations.- History :- Idea :...

    , with seven stations (five of which were ready for opening day)
  • a new main multi-modal
    MMTS
    MMTS may refer to:* Moscow Monorail* MMTS Trains in Hyderabad, India* Maximum Minimum Temperature System...

     terminal, featuring trains, metro, buses, and taxis, called Gare do Oriente, by architect Santiago Calatrava
    Santiago Calatrava
    Santiago Calatrava Valls is a Spanish architect, sculptor and structural engineer whose principal office is in Zürich, Switzerland. Classed now among the elite designers of the world, he has offices in Zürich, Paris, Valencia, and New York City....

    .

During

Please Note - the photo at right is incorrectly labelled. This is not the main entrance to the Expo98 Site. This is an image of the entrance to part of the International pavilions. The main entrance, the 'Sun Door', led from the new Orient station, via the (unfinished at that time) building which subsequently became the Vasco da Gama shopping centre - as describe din the 'After' section later in this article.

Expo '98 opened on 22 May 1998 with 141 countries and 14 international organizations featured in individual pavilions: almost every exhibitor respected the Expo's theme "The Oceans: A Heritage for the Future". There were additional thematic pavilions dedicated to Water, Sea Knowledge, Virtual Reality (paid), Future, Oceans, and Oceanophilia; and exhibitions: "Leonardo Da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...

@expo98 - La Dinamica dell'Acqua"
, "Roads of the Porcelain", and "Shells and Man". Additional attractions included: a 15,000-seat Utopia Pavilion with a resident theatrical show, Camões
Luís de Camões
Luís Vaz de Camões is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespeare, Vondel, Homer, Virgil and Dante. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas...

 Theater, nautical exhibition, Garcia de Orta
Garcia de Orta
Garcia de Orta was a Portuguese Renaissance Sephardi Jewish physician and naturalist. He was a pioneer of tropical medicine.- Life :...

 tropical gardens, Swatch Pavilion, "World of Coca-Cola" exhibition, Expo Adrenalin, 120 metre-tall observation tower (paid), funicular
Funicular
A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...

 (paid), and the nightly water-show "Acqua Matrix".

One of the five major theme pavilions at Lisbon’s Expo 98, the Utopia Pavilion was among the most popular. Reflecting the Exposition’s overall theme of “The Oceans: a Heritage for the Future” and designed by the renowned François Confino and Philippe Genty, the pavilion featured a large-scale multimedia spectacle that presented the oceans as stimulators of imagery, taking visitors on a voyage from the creation of the world to the present day. Combining traditional stage technology with highly innovative special effects and mechanical controls, gsmprjct intégration handled all of the logistics and technical direction for the project. Housed in a custom-built covered stadium with a seating capacity of 10,000, the show was performed over 500 times, making it the first time that a World’s Fair show was staged for over 3 million people.

The Oceania Virtual Reality Pavilion was the biggest hit of Lisbon’s Expo 98, attracting over half a million visitors in a four-month period. Despite being the only pavilion at Expo 98 that required an additional admission fee, people spent hours waiting in line for this breathtaking 30-minute thrill ride that made use of seamlessly integrated simulators, virtual reality visors, and interactive projections. The payoff was a virtual submarine voyage to an underwater base where visitors discovered the ruins of a lost civilization and encountered a sea monster before escaping back to the surface in Teleport capsules.

gsmprjct was commissioned to design and produce "Oceania", planning the look and feel of the overall experience, in addition to acting as project manager,architectural coordinator, and general contractor. Divided into several rooms, the pavilion featured a 45-person simulated submarine ride and 70mm film, a 3D stereoscopic viewing system with custom content, and custom-designed motion simulators with audio-visual content.

The Oceans Pavilion, built to be the Lisbon Oceanarium
Lisbon Oceanarium
The Oceanarium is an oceanarium in Lisbon, Portugal. It is located in the Parque das Nações, which was the exhibition grounds for the Expo '98.- Architecture :...

 after the Expo closed, had the longest lines. Other popular pavilions, with lines of up to five hours on busier days, included Portugal (architecture by Álvaro Siza Vieira
Álvaro Siza Vieira
Álvaro Joaquim de Melo Siza Vieira, GOSE, GCIH, is a Portuguese architect, born 25 June 1933 in Matosinhos a small coastal town by Porto. He is internationally known as Álvaro Siza .-Life and career:...

), Spain, Sweden, Germany, and Virtual Reality.

Total number of visitors reached 10,128,204, for a duration of 132 days. Admission prices (adult) were 5,000 escudos PTE
PTE
PTE may refer to:*CVH-PTE Engine, an engine produced by the Ford Motor Company*Partido de los Trabajadores de Ecuador, the Workers' Party of Ecuador*Partido del Trabajo de España, the Party of Labour of Spain...

 ($34 USD at then-exchange rates) for one day, 12,500 escudos ($84) for three non-consecutive days, and 50,000 escudos ($334) for three months.

Logo and mascot

The Expo logo symbolizes the Sea and the Sun. It was conceived by Portuguese Augusto Tavares Dias, creative director in an advertising agency, and selected from 1,288 entries.

The Expo mascot was conceived by the Portuguese duo of painter António Modesto and sculptor Artur Moreira. It was selected from 309 entries. It is named Gil, after Portuguese navigator Gil Eanes
Gil Eanes
Gil Eanes was a 15th-century Portuguese navigator and explorer.Little is known about the personal life of Gil Eanes, prior to his role in the Portuguese Age of Discovery, and was considered a household servant and shield-bearer of the Infante Henry the Navigator...

. The name was chosen by high-school student José Luís Coelho, from 765 entries. Gil can be now seen on telethons broadcasted on RTP1.

After

Expo '98 closed its doors on 30 September 1998. The site remained closed until February 1999, when it reopened as Parque das Nações (Park of the Nations), a free-access park, keeping the gardens, Oceanarium
Lisbon Oceanarium
The Oceanarium is an oceanarium in Lisbon, Portugal. It is located in the Parque das Nações, which was the exhibition grounds for the Expo '98.- Architecture :...

 (Europe's then largest aquarium), observation tower, funicular, and the Virtual Reality pavilion. Other buildings were re-purposed for the opening, including:
  • the main entrance (sun door), converted to Centro Vasco da Gama, a regional shopping mall
    Shopping mall
    A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...

     (opened on April 27 1999)
  • the main exhibition pavilions, converted to Feira Internacional de Lisboa (Lisbon International Exhibition Fair)
  • Utopia Pavilion, converted to Pavilhão Atlântico
    Pavilhão Atlântico
    Pavilhão Atlântico is an indoor arena in Lisbon, Portugal. Pavilhão Atlântico holds 20,000 people and was built in 1998 for Expo '98.-History:...

    , Lisbon's main multi-purpose indoor arena
  • Knowledge of the Seas Pavilion, converted to Knowledge Pavilion, a hands-on science museum
  • another exhibition pavilion, converted to a bowling alley, but subsequently demolished
  • Future Pavilion, now the Casino Lisboa
    Casino Lisboa, Portugal
    Casino Lisboa is a casino located at Parque das Nações in the city of Lisbon, Portugal. It was inaugurated and opened to the public on April 19, 2006....

    .


Within Parque das Nações, every other building or vacant parcel lot was sold for office or living space, to offset the Expo's costs. The Virtual Reality Pavilion is currently scheduled for demolition. The area today is thriving, modern, stylish, and safe, attracting 18 million tourists a year to its gardens, museums, commercial areas and modern buildings. It has also become permanent residency for up to 25,000 people and one of Lisbon's premier business centers, with many multinational corporations basing their headquarters in its main avenue.

Parque Expo has lived beyond Expo '98, not just being still the manager of Parque das Nações but, having acquired the know-how in urban conversion and planning, sells its advising and consultancy services to other cities around the world.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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