What is the difference between a World Expo and a Specialised Expo?
World Expos are the larger category. Participating countries design and build their own pavilions from scratch, and the events run between six weeks and six months. Since 1995, World Expos are held at least five years apart. Specialised Expos are smaller: organizers build and provide pavilion space free of charge, countries customize what they receive, individual pavilions are capped at 1,000 square meters, and the duration is three weeks to three months. Only one Specialised Expo may be held between two World Expos.
Which World Expo drew the most visitors?
Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan holds the attendance record among World Expos, drawing more than 64 million visitors between March and September 1970. Expo 2010 in Shanghai came close, with more than 73 million visitors recorded over six months.
What body officially sanctions world's fairs?
The Bureau International des Expositions, known as the BIE, is based in Paris and has served as the official sanctioning body since the 1928 Convention Relating to International Exhibitions. It oversees World Expos, Specialised Expos, Horticultural Expos (jointly with the International Association of Horticultural Producers), and the Milan Triennial.
How did the term Expo replace world's fair?
Organizers of the 1967 International and Universal Exposition in Montreal formally retired the term "world's fair" and promoted the event as Expo 67. The word expo had already been popular in French and was in use for exhibitions at least as far back as the 1958 Brussels World Fair. The Montreal Expos baseball team took their name from the 1967 fair.
What are some famous structures that still exist from past expos?
The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 Paris exposition. Seattle's Space Needle dates from the 1962 World's Fair. Montreal's Habitat 67 and the Montreal Biosphere survive from Expo 67. The China Art Museum in Shanghai, the largest art museum in Asia, occupies the former China pavilion from Expo 2010. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is housed in a building from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.