Ivory Coast - Expo Osaka 1970
Côte d'Ivoire, a former French colony on the Gulf of Guinea, gained its independence on 7 August, 1960. Over the past 10 years, spectacular growth has taken place, a growth based on the country's political stability and its system of actively encouraging foreign investment.
Thanks to these policies, Côte d'Ivoire has become the most prosperous former French colony in Africa.
This brilliant national development was depicted in the first section of the pavilion, Côte d'Ivoire, the modern house, a grouping of three cylindrical buildings (8 to 30 metres high) in shapes representing elephant tusks. This section presented the various aspects of this country of 5 million people living on 322,000 square kilometres. And it showed the main resources of the country: coffee, cocoa and tropical woods. Indeed, Côte d'Ivoire was first in Africa and third in the world in coffee production, which accounts for 50% of all its exports.
The second section of this panorama, the "traditional house", images the history of Côte d'Ivoire and a unique heritage of this nation from ancient times, through art objects, short films, photographs and a large display of folklore and art passed down by the nation's ancestors.
Yet another section of this interesting exhibition, and perhaps the most important from the point of view of modern-day Côte d'Ivoire, was dedicated to the national independence movement. The movement was led by Houphouët Boigny, who later became the illustrious president of this industrial republic.
The pavilion and the decoration were designed by the architect Rinaldo Olivieri from Verona, Italy and built by Shimizu Construction Co, Ltd.