Drive on the serpentine roads around the Fairmount Park Houses on the west of the Schuylkill River to find one of the first Beaux-Arts buildings in the United States. Memorial Hall was completed in 1876 as a permanent structure for the International Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, now occupied by the Please Touch Museum.(( Please Touch Museum website )) The building has a big footprint but during the Centennial, the Art Museum (as it was called then), was dwarfed by the Main Exhibition Hall (demolished) that covered 21 acres, or about 20 football fields.
![Memorial Hall [color version]](https://live.staticflickr.com/5247/5202745447_257a5027cc_c.jpg)
The grand tradition of international exhibitions can be found as far back as the Book of Ester((King Ahasuerus )). The Carnival of Venice (Carnevale di Venezia) was started in 1268. Tradesman presented their goods for the approval of the doge until the celebration was outlawed by the fascist government in the 1930s, to be rekindled again in 1979.
The “First Exhibition” organized in 1756 by the Royal Society of Arts in London was the beginning of the modern international exposition for the public display of goods to promote trade and industry. Two more exhibits in 1792 and 1802 were held in Paris, which stimulated the rivalry between nations for dominance in culture and technology. This culminated in the “Great Exhibition” of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851) where the legendary Crystal Palace was built at Hyde Park in London (destroyed by fire on November 30, 1936).(( Ivanovic, Milena. (2009) Cultural Tourism. via Academia.edu (link to read/download free PDF above) ))