Every year the French tourist offices present the published leaflets detailing the information on important cultural events: professional exhibitions, forums, fairs and festivals. (And these publications are distributed free).
In any of the kiosks of any city in France you will also be offered a plenty of guides containing all the information about the local cultural life – places of entertainment, attractions, movie premieres, festivals, museums and exhibitions: industrial, works of art, identikit, etc.
We will not be mistaken noting that (according to these descriptions) a quite prominent place in France is given to the arrangement of a variety of exhibitions. (Suffice it to recall the Art Paris Art Fair). There is also a developed, highly profitable exhibition business in the country.
A public presentation of any achievements in various areas of public life (from economy and science to art and culture) is called an exhibition. At that, the word «exhibition» can be referred both to the «event» itself and to the place of its holding.
The exhibitions (shows) can be global and international, national and local. Also a distinction is made between temporary (periodic) exhibitions and permanent ones, mobile and stationary exhibitions. They may cover all spheres of human activity, that is to be universal.
But the exhibitions dedicated only to one sphere of human activity are specialized (e.g. agricultural, industrial or artistic).
If you refer to history, it will appear that French museums initiated the arrangement of national exhibitions; the organizers were the French-Parisians, Colbert and Mazarin. The date of the exhibition was 1763, the name was «Ecole des beaux arts».
Soon this manner was «picked up» by the Germans – an exhibition in 1765 in Dresden, in 1786 – in Berlin. And the United Kingdom held in its capital the first World Industrial Exhibition in 1851.
The current exhibition business is profitable, as it has great informational value and during the exhibitions organizes the meetings of businessmen of participating countries (and not only them) for the establishment and maintenance of direct relations and contacts. This ultimately contributes to the development of science, art and technological progress and the emergence of new quality goods in the world trade.