On some Soviet lenses, you can often see the inscription "Grand Prix Brussels 1958." This phrase is especially common on the Mir-1 2.8/37 lens.
Expo 58 World's Fair
In 1958, the Expo 58 World's Fair took place in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. This event was the first major international exhibition after World War II.
Before World War II, such exhibitions were not uncommon. Expo 58 was the eleventh world's fair hosted by Belgium. Other countries also hosted similar exhibitions. However, the first post-war exhibition was undoubtedly an extraordinary event.
The USSR had participated in international exhibitions before, and the pavilion at Expo was always considered a showcase of the country, with its design being a matter of national importance. However, it was especially important to demonstrate the successes of the Soviet Union at the first post-war exhibition.
The number of visitors exceeded 30 million people. The Belgian press referred to our pavilion as "Pavilion No. 1." The pavilion itself gleamed with glass walls and looked impressive. The construction had an innovation hidden from the general public but obvious to architects and builders. The essence was that "the building had no foundation and literally hung on 16 mast supports."
It is important to understand that the USSR was not particularly open to the world. What was happening inside the country remained unknown to most foreigners.
However, it was evident to everyone that the Soviet Union had suffered greatly during World War II. Therefore, the scientific and technical potential demonstrated at Expo 58 surprised many and deservedly impressed the visitors.
I will not dwell on the entire exhibition as it is beyond the scope of this article. The information is available, and it is not difficult to search the internet if you are interested.
The Soviet photographic industry was also represented at Expo 58. The honor of representing the country in this field fell to the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant (KMZ).
The Krasnogorsk plant brought both special equipment and many civilian innovations to the exhibition. And not just the Mir-1 lens.
Firstly, cameras were displayed at Expo 58.
Among the serial models at that time were the Start, panoramic FT-2, and Moscow-5. Also showcased were prospective models: the Kometa rangefinder camera with a set of lenses, the Astra stereo camera, the Iskra medium format camera, and as a project, the Kadr rangefinder camera.
Secondly, a LOT of Krasnogorsk optics were presented at the Brussels exhibition.
Here is the list: Helios-40, Helios-44, Industar-26, Industar-37 4.5/300 (frame size: 180x240 mm), Industar-50, Industar-51 4.5/210 (frame size: 130x180 mm), Merkuriy-1 2/50 (standard for the Kometa camera), Orion-15, TK-115 (Telemar) 5.6/115, Jupiter-3, Jupiter-6, Jupiter-8, Jupiter-9, Jupiter-11, Jupiter-12, YK-80 (Jupiter) 2.5/80.
The optics listed above, as far as I can tell, did not receive awards (nor did the cameras, I found no such information), but the following six lens models were awarded the highest Grand Prix prize:
MR-2 Russar;
Tair-11;
Tair-3;
MTO-500;
MTO-1000;
and finally, Mir-1.
So, Mir-1 is not the only holder of the Grand Prix at Expo 58.
Among other branches of Soviet industry, there were MANY different awards – Grand Prix, gold and silver medals, diplomas, and certificates.
In memory of the event, lenses from this group of award-winning models began to bear the inscription "Awarded the highest Grand Prix prize Brussels 1958" or simply "Grand Prix Brussels 1958," "Grand Prix Brussels 1958."
Such inscriptions were not applied to the MR-2 Russar. I have never encountered such examples, and this is explicitly mentioned on the historical website of KMZ.
