“Lisboa Expo’98” took place on the eastern riverfront of Lisbon, Portugal, from May 22 to September 30, 1998. Organized by Expo 98 SA, it was a specialized exhibition under the second categorization system of the International Exhibitions Bureau (Bureau International des Expositions, BIE), with the theme “The Oceans: A Heritage for the Future.” It commemorated the 500th anniversary of Vasco da Gama’s arrival in India and coincided with the International Year of the Ocean proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly. The Expo welcomed 146 countries and 14 international organizations and recorded 10,128,204 visits.

The idea for the Expo emerged in 1989, and on June 23, 1992, Lisbon was chosen as host over a competing bid from Toronto. The BIE General Assembly recognized the Expo on June 8, 1994. The theme was developed through four subthemes: knowledge of the seas and ocean resources, the oceans and the planet’s equilibrium, the oceans and leisure, and the oceans as a source of artistic inspiration.

Organizers chose a run-down industrial zone in eastern Lisbon at the end of 1990. Preparing it meant decontaminating soil, cleaning the Trancão River and removing a slaughterhouse, refinery fuel depots and an area of precarious housing. The public company Parque Expo 98, created in 1993, led a regeneration program covering about 340 hectares and some five kilometers of riverfront, of which roughly 70 hectares formed the exhibition grounds. Public works included the Vasco da Gama Bridge across the Tagus, which opened on March 29, 1998, and the Gare do Oriente station by Santiago Calatrava.

The Oceans Pavilion, designed by Peter Chermayeff, was the largest aquarium in Europe when it opened, with about 200 marine species. Álvaro Siza Vieira designed the Portugal Pavilion with its thin canopy, which won that year’s Valmor Prize. Other landmarks included the Knowledge of the Seas Pavilion, the Future Pavilion, the Virtual Reality Pavilion with its “Oceânia” experience, the Utopia Pavilion by Regino Cruz, and the 145-meter Vasco da Gama Tower, linked to the nautical exhibition by a cable car.

The cultural program presented some 1,500 exhibitions, events and shows on 17 stages. Official guests included 38 heads of state and 35 prime ministers or deputy prime ministers. Total costs through the end of 1998 reached about 421 million contos, roughly €2.1 billion, according to a 2000 report of Portugal’s Court of Auditors.

After the Expo, the site became Parque das Nações, a mixed-use district of housing, offices, shops and attractions that is now home to more than 28,000 residents. The Oceans Pavilion continues as the Oceanário, the Utopia Pavilion became today’s Altice Arena, which hosted the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, the Future Pavilion became the Lisbon casino, and the Portugal Pavilion is now used by the University of Lisbon. The BIE notes that the regeneration became a model for urban programs elsewhere in Portugal. Expo 1998 Lisbon turned an abandoned industrial waterfront into a new city center and kept the oceans at the heart of its legacy.