Poland - Expo Brussels 1935
The Polish Pavilion, designed by the Belgian engineer Camille Damman, covered an area of about 800 square metres. It contained a central hall followed by an information office, and six rooms on both sides. The design and direction of the interior decoration was entrusted to Mr. Thadée Gronowski, who won the Grand Prix at the Paris Decorative Arts Exhibition in 1925; he was assisted by the architect Etienne Osiecki.
The central hall, intended for official receptions, was decorated with eight beautiful bas-reliefs by the sculptor Rzecki, allegorical compositions such as "Poland offering its gifts to Europe", "Science", "Arts", "Agriculture", "Navigation", "Aviation", "Sports" and "Hunting". Eight columns bore the coats of arms of major Polish cities.
The busts of the President of the Republic, Ignatius Moscicki, and Marshal Joseph Pilsud-ski, the work of sculptor Alphonse Karny, completed the ornamentation. At the back of the room, a large photomontage and documents represented agriculture.
The six harmoniously arranged halls were designed to present to the public, in a striking synthesis, the main forms of economic activity in Poland and their development.
To the left of the Hall were three rooms, the first of which was entirely devoted to hunting, and included an extremely curious piece, a magnificent and rare specimen of auroch, from the Museum in Bialowicia, situated 300 kilometres north-east of Warsaw, on the edge of vast forests. There were also a large number of rich hunting trophies.
The second room was devoted to the development of agriculture and related industries.
The third room showed in a synthetic way the multiple insights into the mining, metallurgical, chemical, textile and oil industries.
The first room on the right-hand side of the hall was given over to the port of Gdynia, founded 11 years ago and whose prodigious development is a real technical record. Danzig, the second port serving Poland, was represented by diagrams, plans and statistics showing its expansion after the Great War.
The second section contained interesting documentation on tourism, which, thanks to the mountainous terrain of the Tatras and Karpathes, particularly suitable for winter sports, has developed in recent years in a remarkable way.
The last one was devoted to the problems of communication, which are of paramount importance in this country of great transit between Western Europe on the one hand and Eastern Europe and Asia on the other.
There were also models of locomotives and wagons from the large national factories.
The rooms devoted to agriculture, communications and industry were decorated with bas-reliefs by Mrs Olga Nieuwska.
The organisation of the Polish participation was entrusted to a special committee chaired by Mr. Charles Berconi, former minister, with Mr. Antoine Wieniawski and Mr. Victor Hulanicki as vice-presidents.
© Le Livre d'Or de l'Exposition Universelle de Bruxelles 1935