A Dissonant Unity at Two Habsburg-Era Expositions: Vienna (1873) and Lviv (1894)

Abstract

In the nineteenth century, world’s and regional fairs were touted as peaceful, unifying com-petitions. But upon closer scrutiny, exhibitions, international or local, promoted civilizatio-nal hierarchies and sidelined subaltern groups. This article examines how two Habsburg-era expositions, the 1873 Vienna World’s Fair and the 1894 General Provincial Exhibition in Lemberg/Lwów/Lviv, balanced the Habsburg state’s agenda of supranational unity against the rising tide of late-nineteenth century nationalist discord. At the Weltausstellung, the new-ly autonomous Galicia figured as a barely distinct part of Cisleithania. Two decades later, the Landesausstellung in Lemberg allowed Galicians to supplant the earlier, disappointing presentation. Devised as a parade of Polish industrial and cultural achievements, the exhibit-tion relegated Ruthenians to the ethnographic village. Nevertheless, the Provincial Exhibi-tion marked a milestone in Ruthenian national revival while contributing to a sharp turn in the Polish-Ruthenian conflict. The analysis points to the broader significance of state-spon-sored celebrations for national self-assertion in late Austrian Galicia and beyond.