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Among the most notable exhibitions of the fair was the Spanish Pavilion. The fair took place during the Spanish Civil War; the pavilion of the embattled Second Spanish Republic included Pablo Picasso's famous painting " Guernica", a depiction of the horrors of war.
Two of the other notable pavilions were those of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The organization of the world exhibition had placed the German and the Soviet pavilions directly across each other. Hitler had desired to withdraw from participation, but his architect Albert Speer, who had by coincidence seen the Soviet pavilion plans while visiting Paris, convinced him to participate after all, showing Hitler his plans for the German pavilion.
Plagued by delay, at the opening day of the exhibition, only the German and the Soviet pavilions were completed. This, as well as the fact that the two pavilions faced each other, turned the exhibition into somewhat of a personal competition between the two great ideological rivals.
Five hundred feet high, Speer's pavilion was completed by a tall tower crowned with the symbols of the Nazi state: an eagle and the swastika. The pavilion was conceived as a monument to "German pride and achievement". It was to broadcast to the world that a new and powerful Germany had a restored sense of national pride. At night, the pavilion was illuminated by floodlights.
Boris Iofan , who also designed the Palace of Soviets that was planned to be constructed in MoscowMoscow ( Russian: Moskva capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva, and encompassing 878. The city's population is rapidly increasing, with 11. 2 million inhabitants counted in 2004. The city is in the federal district called Central Russia (which is, was the architect who designed the Soviet pavilion for the exhibition. The grand building had two large statues on top of it, symbolizing Communist victory over Nazism.At the presentation, both Speer and Iofan were awarded gold medals for their respective designs. Also, for his model of the Nuremberg party rally grounds, the jury granted Speer, to his and Hitler's surprise, a Grand Prix.