The IFEMA Palacio Municipal, formerly known as Palacio Municipal de Congresos, is a

convention centre A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Spain. It is located near the IFEMA's main fairground complex in the Campo de las Naciones area. It is operated by

IFEMA Ifema (short for ''Institución Ferial de Madrid; "''Fair Institution of Madrid") is an entity charged with the organisation of fairs, halls and congresses in their facilities in Madrid. It is a consortium partnered by the Ayuntamiento de Madrid ( ...

since 2019.

History

It is located in the Corralejos neighborhood, Barajas district. Designed by

Ricardo Bofill Ricardo Bofill Leví (; 5 December 1939 – 14 January 2022) was a Spanish architect from Catalonia. He founded Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura in 1963 and developed it into a leading international architectural and urban design practice. ...

, building works lasted from March 1991 to May 1993. The building was inaugurated on 19 October 1993. Since 1995, when the

Goya Awards The Goya Awards ( es, Premios Goya) are Spain's main national annual film awards, commonly referred to as the Academy Awards of Spain. The awards were established in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sc ...

moved from the similarly named Palacio de Congresos in the

Paseo de la Castellana Paseo de la Castellana, commonly known as La Castellana, is a major thoroughfare in Madrid, Spain. Cutting across the city from South to North, it has been described as the "true structuring axis" of the city. History and description The street ...

, the venue has hosted several editions of the awards' ceremonies. On 15 December 1995, the venue hosted the

EU summit This is a list of meetings of the European Council (informally referred to as EU summits); the meetings of the European Council, an institution of the European Union (EU) comprising heads of state or government of EU member states. They start ...

that ratified the creation of the "

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

" currency. It has also hosted other international events such as IMF and

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

meetings as well as

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and UN summits. The facility closed down on 8 November 2012 to undergo building works to improve on its security. It re-opened on 24 April 2013. In 2018, the

Ayuntamiento de Madrid The City Council of Madrid ( es, Ayuntamiento de Madrid) is the top-tier administrative and governing body of the Madrid, the capital and biggest city of Spain. The City Council is composed by three bodies; the Mayor of Madrid, Mayor who leads th ...

and

agreed on the lease of the building to the latter party to for a period of 25 years, to be effective from 1 January 2019 onward.

References

Buildings and structures in Barajas District, Madrid Convention centers in Spain {{Spain-struct-stub