An exhibition that marks the 100-year anniversary of the League of Nations, the institution that would give rise to the United Nations later in the twentieth century.

League of Nations (1920-1946): promises and legacies

One hundred years after the creation of the League of Nations, which would give rise to the United Nations, the Institute of Contemporary History (NOVA FCSH) presents, from a broad documentary and iconographic basis, an exhibition that aims to provide an international and transnational approach. It also focuses on the involvement of Portuguese personalities, officials and civil society in its history.

Established in the aftermath of the First World War, when the Treaty of Versailles was drafted, the League of Nations was the first attempt to provide international society with a collective security mechanism that could avert a catastrophe such as the great loss of life that took place between 1914 and 1918, while encouraging the search for concerted answers to global problems. Its existence was bumpy and failed to prevent a new world conflagration in 1939. But the utopia that gave it life – to keep international relations from being held hostage by the law of the stronger – continued to inspire reformers and visionary leaders, and was taken up in 1945, by those who created the United Nations.

FREE ADMISSION

When: 21 January to 24 April 2020
Schedule: Monday to Friday, 9:30 AM to 7:30 PM; Saturday, 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM
Where: Mezzanine of the National Library of Portugal

Coordination: Pedro Aires Oliveira (IHC — NOVA FCSH)

Scientific curation:
Aurora Almada e Santos (IHC — NOVA FCSH), Bruno Cardoso Reis (ISCTE-IUL), Cláudia Ninhos (IHC — NOVA FCSH), Cristina Rodrigues (IHC — NOVA FCSH), Helena Pinto Janeiro (IDI-MNE e IHC — NOVA FCSH), Quintino Lopes (IHC — Universidade de Évora), Pedro Aires Oliveira (IHC — NOVA FCSH), Yvette Santos (IHC — NOVA FCSH)

Collaborating institutions:

Diplomatic Institute — Ministry of Foreign Affairs
100 Years of Multilateralism in Geneva
United Nations Archives

Image: The League of Nations Ass’n, 729 14th Street [Washington, D.C.] (Source: Library of Congress, USA)