EXPO and the CR

Brussels 1958

The Czechoslovak Republic achieved its greatest success in the history of world expositions at the EXPO in Brussels 1958.

The facts speak for themselves. The Czechoslovak pavilion was given the highest award, the golden star. Czechoslovakia also received the fourth highest total of prizes (56) and a range of other commendations. The Czechoslovak Commissioner General was ing. F. Adámek.

The winning project in the architecture competition for the design of the Czechoslovak exposition was created by the architects František Cubr, Josef Hrubý and Zdeněk Pokorný. The austere building in the form of a reversed letter L was composed of three cubes without windows. It was faced with yellow panels and decorated with a mosaic of amber glass. The famous semicircular Prague Restaurant was placed behind the pavilion. The overall impression of the exposition was rounded off with a cultural program and works by the leading artists of the young generation of that time – "Karlovy Vary Thermal Spring" by Jan Kavan and Jan Simota, "New Age" by Vincence Makovský, the glass window "From Town and Country" by Karel Svolinský, the glass sculpture (?) "Space" by Jan Brychta and others.

Czech theatre and classical music met with unprecedented success. A concert by the Czech Philharmonic was attended by Queen Elizabeth of Belgium and the Spejbla and Hurvínka Theatre gave 6 sold out performances.

Architect Josef Svoboda and Emil Radok very successfully presented the polyekrán – projection equipment projecting onto seven irregular white surfaces placed on a black background. The program "Cultural Halls" was created by Alfréd Radok, Ján Roháč and Miloš Forman. The major surprise of the cultural program and an international sensation was the Laterna magika – a perfect interaction between live theatre performance and film projection. The famous Prague Restaurant was graced by a visit from King Baudoin of Belgium who, although a teetotaller, tried Czech beer here for the first time in his life. After the exposition was over the restaurant was relocated to Letenské sady in Prague where it remains to this day the only visible reminder in the Czech Republic of the golden era of our participation in world expositions.

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