Exposition Universelle (1889)

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The Exposition Universelle of 1889 was a World's Fair held in Paris, France from May 6, to October 31, 1889.

It was held during the year of the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, an event traditionally considered as the symbol for the beginning of the French Revolution.

The main symbol of the Fair was the Eiffel Tower, which was completed in 1889, and served as the entrance arch to the Fair. A "Negro village" (village nègre) where 400 indigenous people were displayed constituted the major attraction.

The Exposition covered a total area of 0.96 km², including the Champ de Mars, the Trocadéro, the quai d'Orsay, a part of the Seine and the Invalides esplanade.

At the Exposition, the French composer Claude Debussy first heard Javanese gamelan music, performed by an ensemble from Java. David Toop, a modern musical critic, denotes Debussy's experience at the fair to mark the start of an ambient music, one which has since grown through a tree of successive musical innovators, including Sun Ra, John Cage, and innumerable others. Toop expounds upon Debussy's importance in his 1995 exegesis on ambient sound, Ocean of Sound.

[edit] Statistics

Expenses: 41,500,000 Francs
Receipts: 49,500,000 Francs
Visitors: 28,000,000
Exhibitors: over 61,722, of which 55% were French

Buffalo Bill recruited American sharpshooter Annie Oakley to rejoin his 'Wild West Show', which performed for packed audiences throughout the Exposition.