Portuguese colonial exhibition

The Portuguese colonial exhibition was a world's fair[1] held in Porto, Portugal in 1934 to display achievements of Portugal's colonies in Africa and Asia[2] and allow the visitors to travel throughout the empire in a metaphorical sense.[3]

Overview
BIE-classUnrecognized exposition
Building(s)Palácio de Cristal
Visitors1.5 million
Organized byHenrique Galvão
Location
CountryPortugal
CityPorto
Coordinates41°08′48.76″N 8°37′33.56″W
Timeline
Opening16 June 1934
Closure30 September 1934

Portugal's director of 'Colonial Show Fairs' Henrique Galvão who had represented Portugal at the Paris Colonial Exposition in 1931 was made the technical director for this exhibition.[2]

It was decided to re-use the Palácio de Cristal which had been constructed for an earlier exhibition in Porto.[4]

It ran from 16[5] June to 30 September[6] and by the time it had closed there had been 1.5 million visitors.[7]

Exhibits

The Exhibition featured over 400 exhibits placed around streets that were named after different areas of the Portuguese Empire.[3] The exhibits came from Portugal itself (Braga, Chaves, Leixões, Matosinhos and Porto), Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea (Guinea-Bissau), India, Macao[8] (including a reproduction of the Guia lighthouse),[4] Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor (Portuguese Timor).[8]

There were reproductions of villages from different colonies[2] and of the Padrões of Dighton and Yellala,[4] along with a zoo, restaurants[2] a theatre, a cinema which showed 'The Dawn Patrol and an amusement park.[4] The Macao pavilion included a teahouse and Chinese musicians while India was represented by a Hindu temple.[3]

Indigenous Presence

As similar to other colonial exhibitions in Europe, native people from the colonies were present at the exhibition as features of the exhibits and as sources of anthropological study.[3] Reports say that 324 native people were at the colonial exhibition but only 185 were officially given assistance.[3] The indigenous people present were also the subjects of portraits such as those by the artist Eduardo Malta which were put to use as picture postcards.[3] Photography taken by Fotografia Alvão also involved the natives present at the exhibition.[3] While the indigenous people of the colonies were referred to as Portuguese citizens, they were also treated as being of the classification "indigenous" and were viewed as curiosities from the colonies.[3]

References
  1. Findling, John E.; Pelle, Kimberley D. (eds.). "Appendix D: Fairs Not Included". Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 427. ISBN 978-0-7864-3416-9.
  2. "Efemérides | I Exposição Colonial Portuguesa, 1934" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  3. Matos, Patrícia Ferraz de (2014-03-04). "Power and identity: the exhibition of human beings in the Portuguese great exhibitions". Identities. 21 (2): 202–218. doi:10.1080/1070289X.2013.832679. hdl:10451/22681. ISSN 1070-289X.
  4. "do Porto e não só...: O Porto dos anos 30–A Exposição Colonial 1934" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  5. "Portugal > History and Events > Date Table > Second Republic". Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  6. "Efemérides | I Exposição Colonial Portuguesa, 1934" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  7. Medeiros, Antonio. "Imperialist Ideology and Representations of the Portuguese Proivinces during the early Estado Novo". Recasting Culture and Space in Iberian Contexts.
  8. Álbum-catálogo oficial da Exposição.
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