World’s Fair 1982—Rubik’s Cube

The Hungarian Pavilion at the 1982 World’s Fair boasted the world’s largest Rubik’s cube, turning at its entrance. Professor Rubik, a practicing architect and professor of architecture at the Hungarian Institute for Industrial Design, visited the fair, giving a lecture and signing autographs. UT architecture faculty interacted with Rubik at the fair. At the conclusion of the fair, the cube was donated to UT and placed in the large “street area” of the Art and Architecture Building. Architecture officials proudly pointed to the fact that Rubik, the designer of the cube, was a practicing architect. After a few years, the cube was stored. It was displayed at the McClung Museum during a retrospective exhibit dealing with the Fair in 2002 and then loaned permanently to the Museum of East Tennessee History.