Exposition internationale et coloniale (1894)


The Exposition universelle, internationale et coloniale was a world's fair including a colonial exhibition in the French City of Lyon in 1894. The site was the parc de la Tête d'or in the north of the city. The exposition drew unwanted attention with the assassination of French President Sadi Carnot during his visit on 24 July 1894; he died the day after.
The exposition was initiated as a national exposition to be held in 1892, but the short interval since the Paris 1889 Universal Exposition led to a postponement of two years and the wish for international participation.
Several names were given to the project: "l’Exposition internationale et coloniale de Lyon, en 1894", "Exposition nationale de Lyon en 1894" and "l’Exposition universelle de 1894" before the eventual name "Exposition internationale et coloniale". At the same time San Francisco and the Belgian city of Antwerp organised world's fairs as well.
The main building of the exposition was a 55-metre high metal dome with a diameter of 242 metres. Several themes got dedicated pavilions:
French colonies were represented as well in four pavilions:
3.8 million people visited the exposition, and the success of the exposition led to renaming the neighbourhood next to the exposition from Tête d'Or to Tonkin de villeurbanne, thus referring to North Vietnam, at that time part of French Indochina, in order to satisfy the inhabitants attracted to the exotic colonial atmosphere.