Imperial Austrian Exhibition

The Imperial Austrian Exhibition was held from June 20 to October 6, 1906 in Earls Court in London and served the advertising for tourism and for products from the Cisleithanian part of Austria-Hungary.

The exhibition

Before the construction of today's multi-purpose hall Earls Court Exhibition Centre in 1937, the Earls Court Exhibition Ground was there since 1887 with pool, outdoor arena, Ferris Wheel, gardens and pavilions, which was used for exhibitions and fair events.

Originally the show was to be called Austria in London, but was renamed at the request of the government of the Habsburg Monarchy, which co-financed the costly event. Organizers of the exhibition was the London Exhibitions Limited, whose Managing Director Born in Hungary Imre Kiralfy was. This exhibition will be the most financially successful have been, ever to take place in Earls Court.

The Empress Theatre a Tyrolean village with lace makers and wood carvers was built as well as a typical Viennese square with tavernas and cafes. A garden restaurant in the village offered to Austrian specialties; it was by a restaurateur from Marienbad called Spitzer with his son Maxime Lurion, a formerly successful cyclist, conducted jointly. There was also a bohemian part of the exhibition, responsible for the Count František Lützow recorded. Among other things, an Austrian men's choir performed during the exhibition. At the appearance reminds one designed by Josef hay bronze plaque. Robert Fix, Director General of the company Portois & Fix, which established art furniture, was awarded in 1907 for his contribution to the exhibition in Austria with the Order of Merit.

The exhibition itself presented products from Austrian and Czech companies and artists, such as the company Kalmar, the establishment of objects manufactured from bronze, as well as works by the photographer Josef Jindřich Šechtl. As a representative of urban, then ultra- modern orientation in art and design as it was to be found in Vienna, the artists' associations Wiener Werkstätte, and Vienna Secession Hagenbund showed their works. The architect and designer Josef Hoffmann and Marcel Kammerer exhibited their then futuristic furniture and Jan Kotera an interior design. The more rural side of Austria was represented, among others, with the Innsbruck Cyclorama by Michael Zeno Diemer showing the Battle of Bergisel August 13th 1809 to about 1000 square meters and 360 degrees and had been transported specifically to London.

A special audience attraction was an artificial salt mine, where the visitors - as the workers - on a sled slid down a passage. The " driveway " was performed with an elevator, the operation of which, however, was based on an optical illusion: The elevator stopped, while moving images of artificial stones on the walls. The Ministry of Railways contributed a railway journey that led past photos of Austria.