HERITAGE, AN EXHIBITION THAT LEFT ITS MARK

The heat of August 2025 is conducive to seeking shade in Madrid’s Retiro Park and also to sheltering at home, while visually strolling through the pavilions of the photo album by J. Laurent, which documents THE NATIONAL EXHIBITION OF MINING, METALLURGICAL ARTS, CERAMICS, GLASSWARE AND MINERAL WATERS held in the Campo Grande area of the aforementioned Parque de Madrid and in which its facilities, with more than 65 buildings (all ephemeral except two), occupied an area of 20,000 square metres.

The interior of this building, with its installations, was documented in Juan Laurent’s monoscopic images, numbered up to 66, which make up the copy kept in our archives. Based on its dimensions, we deduce that it is an institutional publication, and given that the cover is engraved with the golden initials J. L de A, we can assume that it belonged to the Minister of Development of the institutional government appointed by Alfonso XII, José Luis Albareda y Sezde.

The 63 photos, attached to sheets of cardboard and bound in the album, are numbered consecutively, so we know that at least four images should be missing. We have: 1 to 3 (not 4), from 5 it jumps to 7, continuing successively to 21. 22 is missing, and they progress from 23 to 48 (49 is missing) and from 50 to 66 it is complete. However, the two views of the Cuban Pavilion (41 and 41 bis) are an indication that the photo album contained more than 66 pieces.

The full name of the event explains, in itself, the diversity of industries that showcased their products, as well as the variety of pavilions and facilities that can be seen in the images captured by Juan Laurent. However, the exhibition did not achieve great effect, even at the national level.

This photographic production seems to be the culmination of Laurent’s career producing large-format institutional albums, a field in which he was an expert. He began working on them in 1857 and reached his peak in 1864, when he produced reports on Spanish public works in collaboration with José Martínez Sánchez (1807–1874) and on behalf of the Spanish Ministry of Development (to be presented at the 1867 Universal Exhibition in Paris). The copies of these photos were made on leptographic paper and, after achieving the highest recognition, he continued to extract images from his negatives, such as those in this other Album of the MINING EXHIBITION – MADRID 1883, which shows his versatility with photographic paper prints. All of this followed his natural evolution, which led to the penultimate changes in his life from 1880 onwards, such as opening a phototype workshop and changing the name from “Laurent y Cía” to “Laurent y Cía Editores” among others.

This collection of large-format photographs of the 1883 MINING EXHIBITION would be proof that Laurent did not retire after selling his share of the company to Catalina Melina Dosch and Daillencq (his stepdaughter) in 1882, but rather continued his photographic production using only his own name.

The photographs collected in the album were used, with acknowledgement of Laurent’s authorship, by the weekly magazine LA ILUSTRACIÓN ESPAÑOLA Y AMERICANA (1869-1921); in which, alongside engravings taken from life by various artists (Comba, Riudavets or Nao, among others), the engravers created interpretative scenarios, using for their plates the clichés of the images in question. In fact, Laurent was a regular contributor to the magazine.

The album, published three years before the photographer’s death, begins with images of the Central Pavilion designed by architect Ricardo Velázquez Bosco (1843-1923).

This enduring building contrasted with the temporary pavilions scattered throughout the exhibition grounds.

In the Official Plan published by the Ministry, it is called the Exhibition Palace. Laurent photographed it in its entirety, its four façades and interior spaces.

Photos 1 to 3 (4 is missing) show three of the façades: the main façade, the north façade and part of the south façade. Photos 5 to 10 capture the rooms that contained installations by the Cía de los Ferro-Carriles (lit.) del Mediodía (southern railroad Co), among others.

The image of the main façade of the Central Pavilion (photo no. 1) was used to make the engraving entitled “Parque de Madrid – Exterior of the Central Pavilion” – in parentheses was indicated ’from a photograph by Laurent”, since, taking this photo as a basis, characters and variations in the arrangement of hedges and sculptures had been introduced, as we can see in no. XXI of year XXVII – 08/06/1883 – of LA ILUSTRACIÓN ESPAÑOLA Y AMERICANA.

Views 11 and 12 belong to the Royal Pavilion. The first, taken from the base of the site, shows a rockery – with a waterfall and caves – and the elevation of the mound. The dome roof had not yet been completed. No. 12 offers a view of its open interior.

Photograph 11 was the central motif of a double-page spread published by this same magazine on 8 July 1883. The engraving shows 15 pavilions and some other installations, all taken from Laurent’s photographs.

Photos 13 to 17 (not in panoramic format) are general shots that give an idea of the pavilions as a whole. If we compare images 16 and 17, the first taken from the Swedish Pavilion and the second from the Royal Pavilion, both with the Central Pavilion in the background, we can see that in the second image, the arches on the façade have formwork and scaffolding, auxiliary construction elements that do not appear in the other photographs of the Exhibition Palace. Clearly, the photographs were taken on different dates, which suggests a series of reports carried out on different dates, including the period when it was closed to the public during August and part of September.

From photo 18 to 20 we have pavilions. Photo 21 shows the hangar that housed the German Collective Exhibition, and inside we see machinery (photo 22 is missing, but photos 23 and 24 are there). On the side of this hangar was the installation of the Perigord Metallurgical Society (France – made entirely of shaped tubing) and numbered as photo 25.

Continuing along the walk, after passing some images with installations, tents and other pavilions, we come to photograph 32, entitled “La Granja Glass Pavilion”, which we see surrounded by other buildings. Another unique element, which was also reproduced in LA ILUSTRACIÓN ESPAÑOLA Y AMERICANA, was the interior and exterior of the Río Tinto Mines Pavilion (photos 36 and 37). We will stop the tour here until the entire album can be viewed in the future on the FBS website.

But not all the images were monoscopic. G. NEAU PERE & FILS, Fabrique Parisienne d’Optique in Paris, included a stereoscopic pair in its collection “Vues des principales capitales du Monde” (Views of the world’s major capitals), dedicated to the series of arches on the main façade of the Exhibition Pavilion, with the handwritten title “Madrid, Museo de Ultramar” (Madrid, Overseas Museum). which indicates that this image was taken after the Philippine Exhibition, also held in Madrid’s Retiro Park, four years after the one we are discussing, in 1887.

Other stereoscopic pairs, without authorship, show a group sitting in front of the steps of the main façade of the Velázquez Palace and its surroundings.
There are also stereoscopic records of the Royal Pavilion after its original construction was completed, which Laurent showed us, once the dome had been placed on top of the main body. This pavilion survived until its dilapidated state made it impossible to restore in the mid-20th century.

Attached to the carousel of views is a stereoscopic pair of the “Retiro. Arab Temple”, which was an advertising unit for the “CRISTALES DE ROCA DEL BRASIL” Special Optics Shop and was part of a collection of 12 views entitled “ESTEREOSCOPIO POPULAR”, produced by Fototipia Laurent, Madrid.