The Liège International Exposition (French: Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Liège) was a world's fair held in Liège, Belgium, from 27 April to 6 November 1905[1][2]: 416 just 8 years after a Belgian exposition held in Brussels. Intended to show Liège's industrial importance it also marked 75 years of Belgian Independence[1] and 40 years of Leopold II's reign.[2]: 178
The exposition received 7 million visitors, covered 52 acres and made 75,117 Belgian francs.[2]: 415
Participants and exhibits
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Principal façade of the Liège Universal Exposition of 1905
Twenty-nine countries were official participants, from Europe: Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Greece, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom; from Africa: Egypt and Congo Free State; from America: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, and the United States; and from Asia China, Japan, Persia and Turkey. Germany and Spain were unofficial participants[1]
Liège-Guillemins railway station as it appeared in 1905 following improvements for the fair
There was an exhibition of medieval and Renaissance art, L'art ancien au Pays de Liège, as part of the event.[3] Ulrikke Greve' Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseums Vævskole contributed tapestries which won a gold prize.[4]
A piece by Jean-Théodore Radoux entitled Cantate pour l'inauguration de l'Exposition universelle de Liège, 1905, with words by Jules Sauvenière, was written for the expo.