In 1986 on the centenary of Mies van der Rohe's birth, a new Barcelona Pavilion was built on the site of the original 1929 German Pavilion. That same decade marked the 150th anniversary of photography. Since then, much has been published about van der Rohe, the Pavilion, and photography, both jointly and singly. Whilst the literature on Mies van der Rohe has more than doubled in the past fifteen years, this is the first serious study of the unique phenomenon, and enduring myth of modernity, that was, is and will continue to be the Barcelona Pavilion.