The great World Expositions (often dubbed Expos for short) have spawned some remarkable architecture. Visitors to Barcelona often make a pilgrimage to the building that originally served as the German pavilion at the 1929 Expo in the Catalan city. It is a wonderful building, a temple-like icon that epitomises all that was beautiful in the Modern Movement. Sleek, textured and cool, the pavelló is an oasis of polished travertine and marble on lovely Montjuïc southwest of the city centre. From Montjuïc, there are super views over Barcelona and the opportunity to see the architectural legacies of the 1929 Expo and the 1992 Olympics - which were both based on and around Montjuïc.
The general idea with Expos is that landmark buildings are constructed for the event, and then dismantled after the Expo has concluded. And that is just what happened to the German pavilion for the 1929 event in Barcelona. It was demolished in January 1930. Later, Mies van der Rohe commented that working in Barcelona had been a high point of his professional life, and such was the enthusiasm for the lost pavilion that in 1986 it was reconstructed. Some other buildings on Montjuic won a reprieve from demolition. The Palau Nacional is a beautiful palace that was constructed as a centrepiece for the 1929 Expo. Original plans to demolish it met with fierce opposition from Barcelona citizens and the building found new life as home to a museum devoted to Catalan visual art.
