Interventions to the city’s semiotic landscape became more extensive and determined in the early twentieth century. The decayed neighbourhood of the former medieval production district of el Born was comprehensively re-written to create an attraction for international tourists, to help Barcelona compete with rivals in France and Italy. With this project underway, a second international exhibition was held to promote and update the city, in a Baroque landscape on Montjuic. However, the collapse of Modernisme and the punishment of Catalan nationalism by the authoritarian Spanish state resulted in a confused landscape of architecture and monuments. Only the German pavilion and the light and fountain display expressed more contemporary ideas about urban landscapes.