Greenwich wins bid for Millennium Exhibition Site

Details of the Millennium Commission's decision

Greenwich, 28 February 1996

It was announced that Greenwich will host a UKŁ 700 million (US$ 1050 million) exhibition to usher in the third millennium.

It was said that a two-year exhibition encompassing the arts, science, history and sport will be created on a derelict site, on the banks of the River Thames, in London which straddles the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

"This exhibition can embrace the whole nation in a shared vision, bringing together the successes of the past and our aspirations for the future," "Everyone who visits and participates will have great fun celebrating the beginning of the third millennium."

The centrepiece of the Exhibition will be a Circle of Time which will depict how plays an important role in people's lives.

"The site at Greenwich will provide a millennium exhibition which will be the time and the place where the UK shows the world what we can achieve. It can embrace the whole nation in a shred vision, bringing together the successes of the past and our aspirations of the future. This could become a milestone in our national history"

The exhibition will be presented in 12 themed pavilions each showing a different interpretation of time and British regions will each be given a week to put on their own exhibition.

Almost a third of the cost of the exhibition is expected to be financed by profits from the national lottery with the rest from the private sector and other sources.

The decision is provisional and was to be confirmed.