The world exhibition was held on the occasion of 100th anniversary of purchase of the territory of Louisiana by the United States of America from France, where at that time (1803) Napoleon Bonaparte was getting ready for his war against Britain. The purchase of this territory, today divided into 15 U.S. states, was the greatest success of President Thomas Jefferson.

The Austro-Hungarian pavilion by Jan Kotěra was the last structure for which this architect used art nouveau decorations. However, their sobriety already foreshadows further trends towards modern non-decorated architecture achieving shape attractiveness not by decorations but by use of a wide range of materials for the visible surfaces and their variety.