When most people think of Carlsberg they think of beer, but the brewery’s founding family had other interests too. To Danes the name is equally associated with science and the arts. The Carlsberg Foundation was founded by J. C. Jacobsen in 1876 and owns 51% of Carlsberg. The foundation funds the Carlsberg Laboratory, the museum at Frederiksborg Palace (above), to fund scientific research, as well as the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek to fund social works and support other works beneficial to society.

Such as the arts. And art will play a significant role at the Denmark Pavilion at World Expo 2010 Shanghai.

On a narrow street in the inner part of Copenhagen lies an old courtyard paved with cobblestones. It was once the home of the Danish brewer, Carl Jacobsen, famous not only for producing Carlsberg beer but also for his passion for art and generous art donations which included the Little Mermaid, to the Danes. Today, the courtyard houses the New Carlsberg Foundation, founded by Jacobsen and his wife in 1902 with the aim of supporting the arts in Denmark. The New Carlsberg Foundation has been involved in Danish Expo projects in the past, but this time the Danish Expo pavilion matches the aim of the foundation extraordinarily well, says associate professor, Dr Maria Fabricius Hansen, who is a member of the board of directors.

Continue reading at the Denmark Pavilion website.

Organisers of the Italy Pavilion at World Expo 2010 Shanghai have released new renderings of what to expect inside. The pavilion will celebrate the best of Italy from automobiles and fashion, to the arts and sciences. Visit our Flickr photostream for more images.

• Name: Exposition Universelle de 1900
• Where: Champ de Mars, Trocadero, Avenue des Invalides, Paris, France
• When: 15 April to 12 November, 1900
• Attendance: 50 million
• Cost: Unknown, but it turned a profit for the French government of 7,000,000 Francs
• Size: 1.12 square kilometres
• Participants: 76,000
• Legacy: A number of Paris’ most noted structures were built for the Exposition, including the Gare de Lyon, the Gare d’Orsay (now the Musée d’Orsay), the Pont Alexandre III, the Grand Palais, La Ruche, and the Petit Palais. The first line of the Paris Metro also began operation to coincide with the Exposition.
• Trivia: Part of the Exposition was the Second Olympic Games, which were spread over five months. The games also marked the first participation by female athletes and, in such sports as tennis, football (soccer), polo, rowing and tug of war, teams were multinational. The style that was universally present in the Exposition was Art Nouveau. Russian sparkling wine defeated all the French entries to claim the internationally coveted ‘Grand Prix de Champagne’.

Discover other world’s fairs and expos.

You might be expecting ice sculptures from Harbin but sand ones from ZhouShan in Zhejiang province might have to suffice. I wonder however if Zhejinag will claim that sand sculptures were also invented in China, just like pizza, spaghetti and Tiger Woods

One need look no further than the smiles on these Beijing kids’ faces to know there is genuine enthusiasm for World Expo 2010 Shanghai across China, and particularly among young urban Chinese.

A super-sized statue of Shanghai World Expo mascot Haibao placed at the gate of the Capital Museum in Beijing on July 5 combined with an expo exhibition inside signaled the 300-day countdown to the grand event.

The exhibition is composed of four parts: general information on the Shanghai Expo, relations between China and the World Expo, a brief introduction to the Bureau of International Exhibitions and the history of the event.

The highlight of the exhibit is a five-minute three-dimensional film being shown to the public for the first time that offers a bird’s-eye-view of the Expo site and its various pavilions.

However it’s not only the next generation who is looking forward to touring the world in Shanghai:

“I knew little about the Shanghai Expo before, but now I can recognise the China Pavilion, the Performance Center and the pavilions of many other countries. They are all very impressive,” 83-year-old Shao Lu told Xinhua News Agency.

Alibaba

I love it when countries find an intrinsic and sometimes unexpected link to China. Italy’s pavilion is inspired by a children’s game called Shanghai, Poland’s pavilion evokes a huge papercut, and now New Zealand is bringing jade. And big chunks of it!

For the duration of the Shanghai World Expo in Shanghai next year, an ancient jade vessel and a large and striking greenstone hei tiki will symbolize the many links between New Zealand and China.

Both items, which have been drawn from the collections of New Zealand’s Otago and Shanghai museums, are carved from jade — known as “yu” in China and pounamu in Aotearoa New Zealand. Dunedin and Shanghai are sister cities and there is a special link between the two museums.

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It seems that hardly a week goes by that the French pavilion at World Expo 2010 Shanghai is in the news for another spectacular occassion. They’re giving gifts to everyone who attends; perfume, roses and pastries; they’re bringing seven masterpieces from Musée d’Orsay and then there’s the weddings: all 2,010 of them!

Lucky brides who want to have a dream weddings in the France pavilion at the Shanghai 2010 World Expo may get to do so in a wedding gown designed by famed French designer Martin d’ Autry.

A total of 2,010 couples will be able to tie the knot inside the classical French gardens at the pavilion during Expo.

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Colombia has joined the group of Expo participants that will bring their best artists to China as a way of promoting its country and culture. Who will come? From Shakira, Juanes and Carlos Vives – three very important singers in the Spanish pop world – to their Nobel Laureate in Literature, Gabriel García Márquez, and also their famous artist, painter and sculptor Fernando Botero.

I believe Botero may be the one who generates great expectation since China has a very kinetic art scene and an rapidly increasing interest for art among Chinese people.