Expo 2020 Dubai The world’s greatest show comes to Dubai in October this year, discovers HW Editor Sarah Cartledge
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xpo 2020 Dubai. Dubbed the World’s Greatest Show, 192 countries have confirmed their attendance at the first World Expo to be held in the Gulf, bringing the best of their region to celebrate with the best of the GCC. Open seven days a week for 173 days from 20 October to 10 April 2021, Expo 2020 Dubai will be an extravaganza of innovation, music, invention, food and drink from all around the world. Art, culture 38
and architecture will play an important part in this celebration of our differences, inviting us to know one another and our future aspirations as we move into the next decade of the 21st century. The World Expos are the oldest and largest international events, taking place every five years and lasting six months. The first World Expo was London’s Great Exhibition of 1851, devised by Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert and Henry Cole as a showcase for the emerging
inventions of the mid-century. The 1889 Paris show revealed the Eiffel Tower for the first time, while other landmark inventions on display at subsequent shows included talking movies in 1900 and in 1939 the television, along with Seattle’s famous Space Needle in 1962 and even Heinz’s tomato ketchup. Connecting Minds, Creating the Future Like these other great shows, Expo 2020 Dubai promises to deliver similar innovations under the theme Connecting Minds, Creating the Future. Held in one of the world’s most exciting cities, Arab-style vistas will feature throughout Expo 2020, including palm groves, jasmine trees, wadi