The Globe Céleste | Exposition Universelle (1900, Paris)

The Eiffel Tower and the Celestial Globe in the Exposition Universelle of 1900

The Globe Céleste was an icon of the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris, similar to the Eiffel Tower. It was constructed in the shape of a large globe and stood close to the Eiffel Tower. It was “catered for armchair space-travellers: spectators leaned back in easy chairs while panoramas depicting the solar system were rolled past.”

The fair displayed many machines, inventions, and architecture including escalators, Ferris wheels, Diesel engines, talking films, and the Telegraphone (the precursor to modern-day sound recording).

Paul Morand (1888 -1976) was a contemporary chronicler of the exposition, dubbed electricity “the religion of 1900.”