Welcome to the Baltic Exhibition

The last manifestation of the Jugend architectural & art style in Sweden

The Baltic Exhibition was an art industry and craftsman event between the 15th of May and the 4th of October 1914. The exhibition took place in Malmo, Sweden. Four nations participated in the event: Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Russia. The participating countries exhibited buildings among other - built and torn down solely for the event manifesting the Jugend architectural and art style within Sweden, for the last time.

The exhibition was a friendly yet competitive event where each country sought to show their dignity by showcasing their cultural contribution and local papers fierying up the sense of national dignity.

The Jugend style was present from 1890 to the 1920s, signified by a reaction against the historicistic thinking. The style was a mix of several art flows; symbolized by asymmetries, meandering plant and flower lines with a naturalistic ornamentic. The Baltic exhibition represented the later Jugend style that differed from the earlier iterations with more straight lines and geometric shapes.

The exhibition in size measured 51.6 hectare. It was the biggest exhibition hosted in the Nordic countries at the time, double the size of the Stockholm exhibition of 1897.

Revisiting history, this website was built as part of a minor digitization project to once again illuminate an extraordinary event bringing nations together commonly fighting wars against one another throughout history. This time gathered at peace under the communion of cultural aspirations – exhibiting creativity, not destruction.