![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaIVjRWcsUF1O8yijhgvWPcqiEDNEUQVrhbNzjL9PHEJkDZCSXT7HAeLAH3DCnBjmI51faS7OIzz3uMZmeSyz6iIIWlNd4TX4Epd3OFH0aTPHXixrkJjBJy4wTLi_fSnw65L-K8fl8j3M/s400/Potemkin_Village_Facade_Auckland.jpg)
Potemkin Village describes something that appears elaborate and impressive but in actual fact lacks substance.
ETYMOLOGY: After Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin [1739-1791], who had elaborate fake villages constructed for Catherine the Great's [1729-1796] tours of the Ukraine and the Crimea.
“the Potemkin village of this country's borrowed prosperity”
- Lewis H. Lapham [born 1935]