Expo 2020 Dubai is big, as anyone who has visited the world's fair will testify. But just how big?
Some say the site is the same size as 600 football pitches, others say it covers an area larger than Monaco.
The truth is, it's much bigger.
As these images – taken from Google Earth at an altitude of 4.6 kilometres – show, Expo 2020 Dubai is much bigger than the Principality of Monaco and dwarfs the Vatican City, the smallest country in the world.
It’s bigger than Disneyland Resort in California and New York’s Central Park. It is bigger than Beijing’s Forbidden City, including Tiananmen Square. Even London's famous Square Mile is smaller, as is Australia's Ayres Rock and Tesla's new Giga Texas factory.
Home to pavilions from 192 countries, Expo 2020 Dubai is the largest meeting of cultures that represents and unites the entire world.
Once the world fair ends, the site will be closed for redevelopment and repurposed to become the UAE’s first 15-minute city - a cycle-friendly, traffic free suburb of Dubai's growing metropolis.
From October, the first of 85 start-up companies will begin moving in to occupy some of the same buildings that visitors have flocked to. Some of the first apartments that will be available will include the Expo village, where country pavilion staff lived for six months.
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Ruwwad Najib, 10, from India with his Expo 2020 Dubai passport. All Photos by Victor Besa / The National -
Visitors enter the Australia Pavilion. -
People interact with a robot at the Finland Pavilion. -
Wattle the Koala welcomes visitors to the Australia Pavilion. -
A performer at Expo 2020 Dubai. -
The Nieto children from Spain with their Expo 2020 Dubai passports. -
Visitors enter the Australia Pavilion. -
Visitors watch the ocean environmental awareness video at the Australia Pavilion. -
Visitors interact with the light show at the Australia Pavilion. -
Romanian traditional Cymbalom player, Nikulina Tudorache, at the Mobility Pavilion. -
The Finland Pavilion. -
Visitors watch the ocean environmental awareness video at the Australia Pavilion. -
Expo 2020 Dubai is open until the end of March.
