Hungarian Pavilion to present artificial forest with world's biggest "Gomboc"

Recently, news came from a reception held to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Hungary as well as Hungary's participation in the 2010 Shanghai World Expo that Hungary will display a forest built with 800 wooden rods and there will be a miraculous "Gomboc," an ever-upright object in the forest. This will be a surprise Hungary brings to visitors.

Hungarian Pavilion

The pavilion used a total of 800 wooden rods, each with a diameter of about 10 centimeters and suspended in the forest. Some are fixed and some are movable. The fixed ones are eight meters high and the movable ones are 3.5 meters high. "The heads of visitors will not run into these rods." Andras Huszty, the delegate general of the Hungarian government and the Prime Minister’s commissioner said.

Rods with different heights form a well-arranged layout in the pavilion. More interestingly, the bottom of each rod has a red dot, which is lighting and stereo.

During the Expo, a forest atmosphere will be created with the rods moving up and down and the changing of the lighting and music, letting visitors comfortably enjoy the tranquility of nature when they walk into the pavilion.

The "Gomboc" demonstrated in the forest is the core element of the Hungarian Pavilion. Like a tumbler, it can return to its originally upright state no matter how you fiddle with it. However, unlike the tumbler which concentrates its weight at the bottom and is not homogeneous, the "Gomboc" is homogeneous.

According to sources, the "Gomboc" exhibited in the Hungarian Pavilion is made of steel and is 1.5 meters high, three meters in max-diameter and about two tons in weight. "It is the world's biggest Gomboc and will be placed at the center of the pavilion. In addition, there also are more than 10 small Gombocs made of various materials put in other areas of the pavilion, letting visitors experience the feature of it turning back to its original state after being shaken. We will give whoever that can prevent a Gomboc from turning back to its original state an award." Dr. Huszty said with a smile.

Light sources are built into the wooden sound tubes as stars in the sky.

"Gomboc" is a scientific discovery attracting wide attention and is the first known homogeneous object in the world that has an equilibrium point and a un-equilibrium point which are in the same plane. The new-style three-dimensional geometry solid was invented by Garbol Domokos, the head of the Department of Mechanics of Materials and Structure at Budapest University of Science and Economics, and his former student Peter Varkonyi in 2006, and is a symbol of harmony and equilibrium. The designers for the pavilion said that the characteristics of a Gomboc reflect Hungary's national temperament.

Visitors can not only see "Gombocs," the interesting scientific invention in the forest, but also appreciate the works of well-known Hungarian artists, such as Laszlo Hudec and Robert Kappa. "In the next year, when visitors visit the Hungarian Pavilion in Shanghai, they will also have an opportunity to visit the buildings designed by the famous Hungarian architect Hudec who has close relations with Shanghai." Kuti Laszlo, Hungarian consul-general in Shanghai said. It is said that many buildings, such as the Shanghai Park Hotel, the Ever Shining Circuit cinema theatre in Shanghai, the American Association, Shanghai Moore Memorial Church and Wukang Building, all were designed by Hudec.