The French Industrial Exposition of 1844 (french: Exposition des produits de l'industrie française en 1844), held in a temporary structure on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, was the tenth in a series of eleven French national industrial expositions held since 1798 to encourage improvements in progressive agriculture and in technology.

History

The exposition lasted 60 days, with 3,960 exhibitors. It opened in the Champs-Élysées on 1 May and closed on 29 June. In the 1844 exposition it was found necessary to exclude retailers who did not make their own products, and to eliminate anything that was not socially useful, which included both freak artisan products and instruments used only by scientists. Entrants had to fill out a form that gave information about their business including its nature, number of employees, materials used, export and domestic earning and so on. The king of France,

Louis Philippe I Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary Wa ...

, opened the exposition and toured all the exhibits.

Hector Berlioz In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

composed and conducted the ''Hymne à la France'', a great symphonic and choral work performed during the opening. Several vaudeville skits were performed during the exposition. The king came back every Monday to examine some exhibits in more detail. There were 3,969 exhibitors, with most exhibits held in forty galleries in the grand hall. Exhibits were placed in the categories: Fabrics, Metals and other Minerals, Machinery, Precision Instruments, Chemical Arts, Fine Arts, Pottery, and Diverse Arts. The jury finished judging the exhibits on 25 July 1844. Louis Philippe presided over an award ceremony on 29 July 1844 in the Tuileries. He personally presented 31

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

medals to the most distinguished exhibitors. In all there were 3,253 awards.

Legion of Honour awards

Legion of Honour awards were: Notable and unusual *Gold medal: Louis-Georges Mulot in the category 'Machines'''Journal des débats politiques et littéraires'', 29 juillet 1844 Paris *

Adolphe Sax Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax (; 6 November 1814 – 4 February 1894) was a Belgian inventor and musician who invented the saxophone in the early 1840s, patenting it in 1846. He also invented the saxotromba, saxhorn and saxtuba. He played the ...

presented an example of the

saxhorn The saxhorn is a family of valved brass instruments that have conical bores and deep cup-shaped mouthpieces. The saxhorn family was developed by Adolphe Sax, who is also known for creating the saxophone family. The sound of the saxhorn has a c ...

. * Charles Xavier Thomas of

Colmar Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), ...

presented the

arithmometer The arithmometer (french: arithmomètre) was the first digital mechanical calculator strong enough and reliable enough to be used daily in an office environment. This calculator could add and subtract two numbers directly and could perform lo ...

. *Jean-Baptiste Sabatier-Blot presented his

daguerreotype Daguerreotype (; french: daguerréotype) was the first publicly available photographic process; it was widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process. Invented by Louis Daguerre ...

s, and received an honourable mention. Others * Andreé, founder, in the Val d'Osne foundry,

Osne-le-Val Osne-le-Val () is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Marne Departments of France, department in north-eastern France. See also *Communes of the Haute-Marne department References

Communes of Haute-Marne, Osneleval {{HauteMar ...

, Haute-Marne * Frédéric Bacot, manufacturer of sheets, in Sedan, Ardennes * Claude-Joseph Bonnet, silk manufacturer, in Lyons, Rhône * Bontemps, manufacturer of glassware, in

Choisy-le-Roi Choisy-le-Roi () is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department, in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. Geography Choisy-le-Roi is located southeast from the center of Paris, on both banks of the river Seine. The neighbouring com ...

, Seine * Bourdon, director of the forges and foundries of

Le Creusot Le Creusot () is a commune and industrial town in the Saône-et-Loire department, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, eastern France. The inhabitants are known as Creusotins. Formerly a mining town, its economy is now dominated by metallurgical ...

, Saône-et-Loire * J. J. Bourkardt, manufacturer of machines, in

Guebwiller Guebwiller (french: Guebwiller, ; Alsatian: ''Gàwiller'' ; ) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est currently in north-eastern France. It was a sub-prefecture of the department until 2015. It is situated northwest of Mulhous ...

, Haut-Rhin * Buron, manufacturer of optical instruments, in Paris * Jean-François Cail, manufacturer of machines, in Paris * Camu fils, wool spinner, in

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded ...

, Marne * Charrière, manufacturer of surgical instruments, in Paris * Théodore Chennvière, manufacturer of sheets, in

Elbeuf Elbeuf () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. Geography A light industrial town situated by the banks of the Seine some south of Rouen at the junction of the D7, D321 and the D313 roads. The ...

, Seine-Inférieure * François Debuchy, manufacturer of linen, wool and cotton fabrics, in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the Nord ...

, Nord * Fauler ainé, maker of

Morocco leather Morocco leather (also known as Levant, the French Maroquin, or German Saffian from Safi, a Moroccan town famous for leather) is a vegetable-tanned leather known for its softness, pliability, and ability to take color. It has been widely used in ...

products, in

, Seine * Etienne Faure, manufacturer of ribbons, in

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the ...

, Loire * Victor Frerejean, master of ironworks, in

Vienne Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population ...

, Seine-Inférieure * Godard fils, manufacturer of crystals, in

Baccarat Baccarat or baccara (; ) is a card game played at casinos. It is a comparing card game played between two hands, the "player" and the "banker". Each baccarat coup (round of play) has three possible outcomes: "player" (player has the higher score ...

, Meurthe * Grillet ainé, manufacturer of shawls, in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

, Rhône * Jacques Gros, manufacturer of cotton fabrics, in Wesserling, Haut-Rhin * Jean-Justin Lacroix, paper maker, in

Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; oc, Engoleime) is a commune, the prefecture of the Charente department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Angoumoisins'' o ...

, Charente * Théodore Lefebvre, manufacturer of white lead, at Moulins-lès-Lille,

, Nord * Lemire, manufacturer of chemical products, in

, Seine * Massenet, manufacturer of steel and iron, in

, Loire * Milliet, manufacturer of porcelain, in Montereau, Seine-et-Marne * Ogereau, tanner, in Paris * Pecqueur, manufacturer of machines, in Paris * Roller, piano player, in Paris * Augustin Roswag, manufacturer of metallic fabrics, at

Sélestat Sélestat (; Alsatian: ''Schlettstàdt''; German: ''Schlettstadt'') is a commune in the Grand Est region of France. An administrative division (sous-préfecture) of the Bas-Rhin department, the town lies on the Ill river, from the Rhine and the ...

, Bas-Rhin * Charles Henri Schattenmann, director of the mining company of Bouxwiller, Bas-Rhin * Antoine Thénard, chief engineer of bridges and highways, in Abzac, Gironde * Joseph-Thaddeus Winnerl, manufacturer of timepieces, in Paris

Influence

Though it was the tenth Paris exposition, it began to spawn imitators elsewhere in the world, including the 1851

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took pl ...

in London, which was open to international exhibitors from the entire world and outshone the highly successful French exhibition. Other European expositions soon followed: Bern and

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

in 1845;

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

with an elaborate industrial exposition in 1847;

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...

in 1847;

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

in 1848; and Lisbon in 1849. The exposition returned to Paris in 1849, called the Exposition of the Second Republic or ''Exposition Nationale des produits de l’industrie agricole et manufacturière'', with 5,494 exhibitors and was replaced in 1855 by an

international exhibition A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

References

Sources

* * * * * {{List of world's fairs in France July Monarchy World's fairs in Paris 1844 in France 1840s in Paris 1844 festivals Festivals established in 1844 fr:Expositions_universelles_de_Paris#Exposition_nationale_de_1844