Expo 2000

Initially, some 40 million people were expected to attend the exhibition over the course of months; however, eventually with less than half of this number, the Expo was a flop and turned out to be a financial failure.

On 12 June that year, a survey conducted by the city council was made public, showing only 51.5% of area residents supported hosting the expo.

The Expo site was situated on the original 1,000,000 square meters of the Hanover fairground; an additional 600,000 m2 was also made available as a newly opened section of the grounds.

Commentator Georg Giersberg wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine that entrance fees for Germany's 53 main theme parks cost on average less than half the price of the Expo (about 30 DM).

In a 2000 Time article, a Berlin-based marketing firm, Scholz & Friends, stated that "the organizers have failed to convey to the public a clear image of what Expo 2000 is going to be: an entertainment park, a blown-up museum, or a nature reserve."

In the same article, Ralf Strobach, secretary of Hanover's Citizens' Initiative for Environment Protection, said that "For a long time, companies were unsure if they would be putting money in an eco-show or a showcase for their latest inventions."

[12] The structure has now fallen into disrepair, until earlier in December 2017, when architecture company MVRDV announced plans to restore and renovate the Netherlands pavilion to accommodate future users.

[13] A glass sculpture called "United Earth" by Tomasz Urbanowicz exhibited as part of the Lower Silesian Presentation in the Polish Pavilion[14] was later handed over by the City of Wrocław to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.