Expo '92 site, Seville: 17 years of gone glory
Published on
Story by
Hermanna Prinsen
As the city explodes in a fury of religion, Sunday best and show during Semana Santa, a discernable quiet reigns on the other side of the Guadalquivir river. Glance at the urban decay and unsustainable 215 hectares of ‘Carthusian island’, or the ‘Isla de la Cartuja’
After the second world war, Seville held the second Universal Exposition in Europe, after Brussels (1958)
17 years on, the venue of the Isla de la Cartuja (Carthusian island) has not achieved the aims it marked out in the closing ceremony of the Universal Exposition 1992. It took place between April and October of the same year
Themed ‘The Age of Discovery’, it celebrated 500 years of the discovery of the Americas (by Christopher Columbus), with over 100 countries participating with ‘themed’ pavilions
The complex network of interests and national, regional and municipal actions provoked the abandonment and deterioration of these pavilions
They were not taken over by institutions and public or private entities fast enough
The various pavilions on the site, most now dismantled, are linked internally by vast roads
Once upon a time it offered a panoramic view of the entire Expo 92 site
Decorated with the Expo 92 symbol, which are practically overgrown
Aspects of many of the communal zones on the site reflect the slovenliness of the competent authorities
But it remains an example of bad post-event organisation. Perhaps they should learn from the folks at Expo Zaragoza 2008