How did the Russian Trans-Siberian Railway end up in… Paris?
In 1891, construction began on the Trans-Siberian Railway, the longest railway in the world. The Committee of the Siberian Railway turned to artist Pavel Pyasetsky to document the progress of the construction.
He began the project in 1894 and completed it in 1903. The artist traveled to various construction sites in the summer and early fall, starting his journey in Syzran and ending in Vladivostok.
He had two train cars at his disposal: he slept in one and painted in the other – depicting stations, bridges and cities he passed through. Each meter of his drawing covered several kilometers of track. The result was 10 rolls of watercolor drawings, each about 50 cm wide and from 54 to 133 meters long. The total length of the panorama was more than 900 meters.
It was this very work that formed the basis of the installation in the Russian pavilion at the ‘World’s Fair’, which astonished Paris.
The ‘World’s Fair’
The ‘World’s Fair’ ('Exposition Universelle') took place in the French capital from April 15 to November 12, 1900, and was dedicated to the dawn of the new 20th century and technological progress. Thirty-five countries took part, but the participation of the Russian Empire was especially impressive.
The main exhibition was housed in the ‘Pavilion of Russian Provinces’ – a small town built on motifs of the Moscow and Kazan kremlins. Unlike the pavilions of other countries, it was made of brick and decorated with various relief details.
At the exhibition, Russia showcased steam locomotives, cast-iron from Kasli, household items and folk crafts and received a whopping 1,589 awards.
But, the real hit was the pavilion dedicated to the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Inside, it resembled the Moscow railway station, the starting point for Trans-Siberian trains. The train consisted of three cars: a sleeping car, a salon/lounge car and a dining car and could accommodate 125 people at a time.
Guests took their seats in the cars and watched as Russian landscapes, painted by Pyasetsky, “flew by” outside the window. Special mechanisms simulated the train’s swaying motion.
The panorama consisted of several moving layers: sketches of the Trans-Siberian raced past against a background of images of mountains, forests and cities. They all moved at different speeds (from 5 meters per minute to 300 meters per minute), creating the effect of a real journey, which lasted 30 minutes.
For his work, Pyasetsky received the ‘Order of the Legion of Honor’, as well as the exhibition’s gold medal. The panorama was later displayed at the 1904 ‘World’s Fair’ in the U.S.
It then passed into the Hermitage’s storerooms, where it remains to this day. A digitized version can be viewed today at the Railway Museum in St. Petersburg.