Hello, World: Monumental Expo 2020 Opens In Dubai

A glowing tree takes center stage during the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 in Dubai on September 30. The expo was delayed by one year due to the coronavirus pandemic and is the world’s largest in-person event since the pandemic began.

Visitors in traditional clothing walk toward the Sustainability pavilion.

More than 190 countries are taking part in the expo, which showcases the culture and tech developments of individual nations under the wider, somewhat vague, themes of “opportunity, mobility, and sustainability.”

The Iran pavilion, hung with hundreds of balls made from the same fired clay used as building material in some regions of the Middle Eastern country. Visitors can try carpet weaving and taste the country’s traditional herbal teas.  

 

Two large puppets in Iran's pavilion.

Visitors walk through a central plaza of the Expo on October 1.  

The Romanian pavilion, whose theme is the interplay between digital technology and nature.  

 

An interior view of the Romanian pavilion, which features a massive LCD screen (visible on right).

Kazakh women in traditional clothing pose for a picture inside the Expo.

The Russian pavilion, where visitors can "hear stories about Russia’s scientific and cultural heritage carefully preserved over the course of the last centuries."

A visitor slipped off his shoes to walk onto the central “water feature” at the Expo.  

The Belarus pavilion, which features a heavy emphasis on state-owned industry. Presentations showcase the “Belgospishcheprom” food company and tout the “export potential of the petrochemical industry of the Republic of Belarus.”

Visitors line up to enter the Serbian pavilion. The display includes an exhibition based on the ancient civilization of Vinca, which thrived on the territory of today’s Serbia several thousand years ago.  

An artificial lake planted to promote the Expo. The U.A.E. has spent some $7 billion on the event and expects around 25 million people to visit before it closes in March 2022. 

Although listed as a participant in the expo, Afghanistan’s pavilion stands empty and incomplete. It is unclear if the country’s new Taliban rulers will send a delegation to Dubai.

A replica of a used SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is a highlight of the U.S. pavilion. The American display will also feature a copy of the Koran that once belonged to former President Thomas Jefferson.

The Pakistan (left) and Bahrain pavilions. Some 8,000 people visited the iridescent Pakistan structure on the first day of the Expo. 

The British pavilion at the Expo. The structure creates a new “poem” each minute using artificial intelligence. The words of each poem come from visitors who are asked to “donate” a word into a microphone when they enter the pavilion.

The entrance to the Ukraine pavilion. Visitors to the pavilion are presented with a field created from “real ears of wheat, ‘nano-wheat,’ and digital wheat,” which the designers claim “symbolically demonstrates Ukraine's movement into the future in harmony with nature and technological progress.”

A scale model of the Expo grounds. The entire showground is reportedly twice the size of the nation of Monaco.