25 years ago, the Prague exhibition grounds lost the Brussels Pavilion

Prague - For more than three decades, the Brussels Pavilion was one of the dominant features of Prague’s Exhibition Grounds until it was destroyed by fire on October 25, 1991. This marked a sad end for the work of architects František Cubr, Josef Hrubý, and Zdeněk Pokorný, which hosted the Czechoslovak exhibition at the famous Expo 58 in Brussels and from 1960 served primarily for a series of temporary exhibitions. During the Czechoslovak General Exhibition in 1991, for example, a moon rock was displayed in its premises.

The building, much like the entire Czechoslovak exhibition in Brussels, was at the time of its creation proof that Czechoslovak culture and industry had not lost contact with the world even during the years behind the Iron Curtain. Externally, the pavilion appeared with a strict geometric layout, but inside, the architecture receded into the background so that the carefully prepared exhibition could stand out. Today, however, the concept of the building can only be perceived from films or photographs, as the remains of the structure standing at the northern edge of the Exhibition Grounds had to be demolished after the fire.

The Brussels Pavilion was not the only building to suffer from fire at the Exhibition Grounds after 1989. The children's pavilion, which served as a storage facility, also succumbed to flames in 2002, and in 2005, the Globe Theatre burned down. The wooden replica of the Elizabethan theatre built in 1999 was completely destroyed by fire. The greatest damage was caused in October 2008 by a fire in the Art Nouveau Industrial Palace, the dominant feature of the complex. The fire destroyed its left wing, for which only a makeshift tent stands today.

A report on the fire here.