History of Výstaviště

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Výstaviště Praha is a leisure complex located in Prague 7. The complex was created through the allocation of part of the Royal Game Park (Královská obora) on the occasion of the Jubilee National Exhibition, organized in 1891 in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the first Industrial Exhibition held in 1791. While it was held (from 15 May to 18 October), approximately 2.5 million people visited the exhibition grounds.


The Industrial Palace, opened on 15 March 1891 and built according to a design by the architects Bedřich Münzberger and Antonín Wiehl, became the symbol of Výstaviště.

Many other events took place at Výstaviště after the end of the first exhibition:

  • 1895 – Czech-Slavonic Ethnographic Exhibition
  • 1898 – Exhibition of Architecture and Engineering
  • 1908 – Jubilee Exhibition of the Chamber of Commerce and Trade
  • Prague Sample Trade Fairs (PVV)
  • Economic Exhibitions
  • Motosalons
  • Slavic Agricultural Exhibition

and more ...

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In the years 1945–1949, following the Second World War, Výstaviště were under the administration of the Land National Committee. There were modifications to the front part of the complex, including modifications to the Křižík Fountain. The exhibition activity was gradually renewed, though by around 1950 the trade fairs were moved to Brno. Since 1953, the area bore the name Julius Fučík Park of Culture and Leisure, only to return to its current name in 1990. During this period, smaller-scale events were mainly held here.


The renewal of exhibition only took place in 1991, when the General Czechoslovak Exhibition was held here to celebrate the centenary of the first exhibition.


The modern history of Výstaviště was marked mainly by three large fires. In 1991, the Brussels Pavilion in the lower part of the complex burned down and fourteen years later the wooden Globe Theatre, a replica of the old Elizabethan Theatre in London, met the same fate. In 2008, the entire left wing of the Art Nouveau Industrial Palace burned down. In 2015, Prague City Hall took over the administration of Výstaviště and it is now managed by the joint-stock company Výstaviště Praha.