Ein Kristallpalast für New York

Kulturtransfer und nationale Identitätskonstruktion in den USA vor dem Bürgerkrieg

Abstract

On July 14, 1853 the second World Exhibition opened its gates in New York. Regarding architecture and themes a simple transfer of the London concept was intended. The shift from London to New York was based on a series of more or less successful translations and transferprocesses. The concept of World Exhibition had to be adapted according to organisation, administration, town planning and in general according to the social, economic and cultural settings of the young republic of the USA. The essay analyzes how processes of adaptation worked, which essential changes they produced and how successful they were in the end. Therefore it works out the specific example of a European-American transfer-process in the 19th century and intends to underline the inherent laws and specific paths of development of such processes.