This year's fair will have three times as many exhibitors as the inaugural show last year. Dealers from Europe and the United States will use the ground floor of the 33-foot-tall building to display antiques and artwork spanning the 16th-20th centuries, including paintings, etchings, sculptures, tapestries, ornamental carpets, period furniture, chinaware, ceramics and old books. Internationally acclaimed jewelers, such as Switzerland's Gilbert Albert, will showcase their work on Manege's lower level.
The Manege "will serve as a splendid backdrop for our exhibitors," said French designer Patrick Hourcade, hired by the organizers to create a mise-en-scene that would fit in harmoniously with the structure's original interior decoration, of which Augustin Betancourt's 50-meter-long wooden beams are the most characteristic feature. It was built in 1817 in celebration of Russia's victory over Napoleon five years earlier and served as a military post before becoming the city's main exhibition hall.
Some 25, 000 people visited the first Moscow World Fine Art Fair, held at the city's Tsereteli Gallery May 31 to June 7, 2004.
