1931: Angkor reconstructed for the Colonial Exhibition
For the International Colonial Exhibition of 1931, Fernand Jacopozzi illuminated the full-scale replica of Angkor Wat erected in the Bois de Vincennes. One of his last great works.
Spring 1931. Months from his death, Fernand Jacopozzi undertakes one of his final great commissions: illuminating the full-scale replica of Angkor Wat erected in the Bois de Vincennes for the International Colonial Exhibition.
A replica at true scale
The Minister of Colonies has had a faithful copy of the Khmer temple built — sixty-five metres high — on the shores of Lac Daumesnil. It is the centrepiece of the Exhibition.
Jacopozzi faces an unprecedented challenge: illuminating a building inspired by tropical architecture, with its galleries, sanctuary towers, and bas-reliefs. No Haussmann facade this time.
The solution: grazing light
He devises for the occasion a system of grazing light — projectors set at ground level at a very low angle, revealing the temple’s carvings and textures. Every detail emerges from the shadow.
The Colonial Exhibition
With 33 million visitors, the 1931 Colonial Exhibition is one of the great gatherings of the interwar years. The Angkor temple illuminated by Jacopozzi becomes its most reproduced image.
He would die eight months after the Exhibition opened.