Fifty-six countries were invited to have pavilions at the Exposition, and forty accepted. The Rue des Nations was created along the banks of the Seine between the esplanade of Les Invalides and the Champ de Mars for the pavilions of the larger countries. Each country paid for its own pavilion. The pavilions were all temporary, made of plaster and "staff" on a metal frame. Nearly all were designed in the national architecture of each country, often imitating famous national monuments, The Russian pavilion was inspired by the towers of the Kremlin.