The 1900 Paris World’s Fair prided itself on the modernity and technological advancements of its exhibits. Paradoxically, however, one of its most successful attractions proved to be the most archaic, a 6,000-square meter city--Le Vieux Paris--built along the Seine. The stated aim of this third-highest grossing exhibit of the fair was “to bring old Paris back to life.” Not content to display cultural artifacts as would a museum, designer Albert Robida reconstructed demolished Parisian buildings and peopled the various neighborhoods of the display--from the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries--with costumed residents, entertainers, shopkeepers, and artisans, basing his efforts carefully upon documents describing Parisian life in the past.

By analyzing photographs, drawings, advertising materials, and accounts about visiting Le Vieux Paris, this multimedia presentation explores the ways in which the recreated city emphasized the importance of maintaining turn-of-the-century France’s ties to its past. In this World’s Fair dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments of the modern French nation, Robida chose not only to create a picturesque and entertaining model of life in old France (as had organizers at fairs in Berlin and Brussels), but to construct the exhibit as a locus of cultural memory. In it, he glorified French accomplishments, while attempting to redress his contemporaries’ neglect of their shared architectural and literary heritage. Using the popular exhibit as a device for celebrating national achievement, he inspired widespread appreciation of French heritage, adding fuel to the nascent conservation moment of which he was a leader.