EXPO and the CR

Taejon 1993

From August 7 to November 11 1993, Taejon (also spelled Daejeon, pop. 1,272,000 in 1995) hosted a specialized world exposition, the motto of which was The Challenge of a New Road to Development. The exposition commemorated the 100th anniversary of Korea's first participation in a world exposition at The World's Colombian Exposition, which took place in Chicago in 1893. The Taejon exposition was the first EXPO appearance of the newly emerged Czech Republic, although it shared a pavilion with Slovakia.

Ing. Hana Havlová was the Commissioner General. Architect Pert Fuchs provided the scenario of the exposition and the artistic and architectural design, including the complete implementation of the pavilion. The organizers invited the participants too late, which resulted in insufficient time for the preparation of the exposition. The newly formed state did not allocate a sufficient budget for the event. The exposition, crammed into 162 square meters, was not very popular with Korean visitors. The traditional artistic glass exposition also failed to attract the interest it usually does. The National Day of the Czech Republic took place on Wednesday, September 29. It was attended by the Czech government delegation, presided by the Minister of Economy, Mr. Karel Dyba. Over 14 million people visited the exposition, over 500 thousand of them foreigners. 108 countries (of the original 115 that applied) and 23 international corporations had their expositions there. The organizers were criticized for excessive budget of USD 3 billion. The exposition area spanned 90 hectares, 25 hectares of which were taken up by pavilions. The Czech Republic presented its cultural and industrial traditions, including the contribution to the scientific and technological advancement of mankind. Employees of the Komerční banka bank, equipped with databases of information on Czech companies, provided information about the economic situation in our country. Visitors complained that our exposition was difficult to walk through. This, however, was not a problem of our exposition only, since lines were forming in front of many other expositions and pavilions.

Jaroslav Halada

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