New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-06-09
THE UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION.
A GENERAL REVIEW.

VIENNA, May 2O-The fine weather continues, and
n new spirt comes over the Worlds Show, and
everything connected with 1t. The arrangement of
articles within the great building Is now 30 far adj
yanced that the completion Of the lacking depart
ments can make but little difference in the general
effect Having seen all the memorable Exhibitions
of the kind, since the first in Hyde Park, In 1851,
venture to sketch the characteristics features OF
each. in the way Of comparison. AS a single grand
picture nothing has since eqnaed the Worlds Fair in
Hyde Park the building 1900 feet long, with all its
art and industry at one glance,
and from every part it, In machiney and crude pro-
ducts it as deficient. Eastern Europe and the Orient
were scantly represented; but all that was displayed
80 filed the great space that it produced an impress
sion of infinite richness and variety. The first Paris
Exhibition Of 1855, and the Second London Of 1862
were crowded and rather bewildering The build
ngs were high, with upper galleries for the lighter
wares the architecture was pretentious and not
particularly imposing, and there was scarcely space
enough in either for the visitors to move with COM
fort on a crowded day. / only saw the Fair
Building in New-YOrk, at the end of 1853,
after most of the goods had been removed. In
design, it much superior to either OF the
former, although 80 much smaller in dimen-
sions. For practical arrangement there has been
nothing like the Paris Exposition of 1867. The gen.
wisely. The concentric ellipses, beginning with
machinery at the outside and ending with the fine
arts in the center, each country cutting through
them like broader or narrower slice Of pie formed
a plan which was instantly understood; and know
ing il, each visitor could find exactly what he
wanted 10 see There were no imposing vistas, no
grand combinations of form and color, but
thoroughly scientific order. 1t also fuller rep
resentaton of the industry of all nations than any
Of the exhibitions which preceded it.
Here the first characteristic which strikes Wis
tor is the vast scale upon which the show has been
arranged. Yet although the main building Is nearly
double the length of that in Hyde Park it produces
nothing like the effect. Owing to the comparative
lowness of the wings, and the great hight of the
show-frames and temples and pyramids which fill
them. the eve finds no vista Your aching feet tell
You the distances you traverse, but your vision is
constantly checked, bewildered and deceived.
Even the RotHnda, which gains by it's vast span
nearly all which it loses by its squatty char
aeter. is deformed by the strange lrregu-
lar, inharmonious piles of productions
numbering its foOr Scarcely one of the transepts is
visible from it's JUNCTION with the wing TO Its ex-
tremity On the other hand, the space between the
cases is so ample that $4,000 persons might circulate
within the building without much jOstling. Ma
chinery having its own hail, Agriculture its dozen
special paylions and Art its detached temple, the
internal arrangement is greatly simplihed,
and will be found sufficiently practical
While America and Western Europe are at
least as well represented az on former occasions, all
Europe east Of line drawn from the Rhine to the
Mediterranean. with Egypt, the Orient and Asia,
make their best and most varied display This will
be the main point Of distinction between the pres
entand all the former Worlds Fairs" At Paris,
ha of
different countries by detached buildings wac, for
the first time, carried into effect Here the
attempt is repeated, and on much larger
scale. since the available space is three or four
times as great. The limits OF the Champ de
Mars, however, while they crowded the edlfices
much nearer together rendered it possible to turn
the intervening space into finished park. In the
Prater this cannot be DONE Only the square of six
or eight acres between the South Portal and the
Rotunda and the smaller garden-court between the
East Portal and the Hall of Art are carefully laid
out and set with shrdbbery and flowers All the
rest Of the very extensive grounds is IN compare
lively rough state, and must remain so The soil Is
loose sandy deposit of the Danube so low that it
holds water like a sponge when it rains, and turns
into fine dust after two or three days of Never
tbeless. the two or three hundred scattered build
ings. when finished viii form by far the most pic
turesque and interesting feature of the Exhibition
20 most visitors.
Within the building the work still goes on, but in
many departments there are signs of its approach
ing end In the United States all is acdyty spaces
are allotted, boxes distributed, and the skeleton
form of the display can at last be traced. think
the work will be for the most part finished within
fortnight so that we shall not be much behind
England and France. We shall have the best exhi-
bition we have ever made, except In Art. we shall
occupy twice as much space as in Paris, aud show
much greater variety of objects. Switzerland is
still the only country in complete order. En-
Gland and France, by hard work, have nearly
finished their portions OF the main aisles but
their transepts are numbered with unopened boxes
The same may be said of Italy Holland, and Ger
many. In the eastern wing Austria and Hungary
take the lead; in BOTH but little more is necessary
TO be done, The gorgeous jewelry and Bohemian
crystal of Austria balance in bright effect the in
conparable porcelain and pottery of England,
AZ the other end Pausing before a display of
Bohemian crystal, I happened to notice large
printed card, headed u. S. A. Customers The
first name on the list was " Sir Hamilton Fish y
OF the Eastern nations, counting Russia as one,
Greece and Iunis are just finishing their work while
Turkey Persia. Japan aud. Egypt will each require
about eight OF ten days more. The nearer part OF
each tansept is now opened to the public and pro-
hibitory ropes are drawn across the REMAINDER IN
stead of the former board fence. We can at leass
get sight of this picturesque end Of the great build
ing, and inspect somewhat more than haif OF It's
contepts The Turkish transept is the only one
which gives an unobstructed vista to the eye. The
yanlted roof is draped from one end TO the other.
with immense carpets of all deep and rich dyes;
palm trees with rather shriveled plumes stand be-
tween all the windows, and between these again.
lfesze figures in couples illustrating the ethnology