The 1900 Exposition: New Century's Promise

If 1889 looked backward at the century's achievements, 1900 gazed forward with even grander ambitions. This exposition would surpass all predecessors: 50 million visitors, 83,000 exhibitors, entire neighborhoods transformed. Paris remade itself as humanity's capital.

The Grand Palais and Petit Palais, built for the exposition, exemplified Belle Époque aesthetic ambitions. Their steel frames, hidden behind stone facades, supported vast glass roofs—modern engineering dressed in classical garb. "We build the future in costume," complained the architect Frantz Jourdain, advocating for honest industrial architecture. But most visitors preferred their modernity decorated.

The Pont Alexandre III, connecting the exposition grounds, became Belle Époque engineering as jewelry. Its single span, technical marvel though it was, disappeared beneath Art Nouveau lampposts, allegorical sculptures, and gilded ornaments. Critics called it a "wedding cake bridge," but crowds loved its exuberance. It suggested technology need not mean ugliness.

Electricity transformed the 1900 exposition into a "fairy palace" after dark. Five thousand arc lights turned night to day. The Palace of Electricity, crowned by a figure called the "Fairy Electricity," became pilgrimage site for those worshipping progress. Buildings outlined in bulbs created an electric architecture that existed only in light. "We have stolen fire from the gods," proclaimed one guidebook, "and given it to the people."

The exposition's moving sidewalk—a three-speed trottoir roulant running along the perimeter—epitomized Belle Époque innovation. Visitors stepped from platform to platform, accelerating from walking pace to nine kilometers per hour. The elderly and infirm could tour the vast grounds without fatigue. Workers heading to exposition jobs used it as mass transit. This democratic technology treated all passengers equally, carrying them together into the future.