The Palais des Festivals et des Congrès (''Palace of Festivals and Conferences'') is a convention centre in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ...

, France, the venue for the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

, the

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (formerly the International Advertising Festival) is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the ...

and the NRJ Music Award. The building opened in 1982.

History

The first ''Palais des Festivals et des Congrès'' was built in 1949 to host the

. The original building was located on the boulevard of Promenade de la Croisette on the present site of the

JW Marriott Cannes The JW Marriott Cannes is a five star hotel on the Croisette in Cannes. It was built in 1992 as the Noga Hilton by hotel magnate Nessim Gaon, and was renamed the Palais Stéphanie in 2007 when it passed from Hilton to Accor. It was renamed again ...

. That building hosted the

4th Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

and 6th

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pri ...

s in 1959 and 1961. Palais des festivals et des congrès de Cannes

In response to the growing success of the Film Festival and the advent of the first business conventions, such as the

MIPTV Media Market MIPTV (french: Marché International des Programmes de Télévision) is an event which takes place annually in Cannes, France, using the facilities and infrastructure which the town has developed over the years to host other important events suc ...

since 1965, the City of

decided to build a new Palais in 1979. The new building, a six-story building designed in the Modernist style by the architects Sir Hubert Bennett and François Druet,Palais des Festivals et des Congrès de Cannes
Emporis was constructed on the site of the municipal Casino. It opened in December 1982 and was expanded in 1999 with the construction of the Espace Riviera, a new space of 10,000 square meters. In January 1992, the Society of Mixed Economy for the Events of the city of Cannes (SEMEC), was created to manage the Palais. SEMEC resulted from the merger of three non-profit organizations: Cannes Tourism, the OMACC and the association ''Cannes Palais des Festivals et des Congrès''.

Today

The ''Palais des Festivals'' is located at the top of blvd. de la Croisette, east of the port. It has an overall space capacity of 35,000 square meters for exhibitions, as well as numerous rooms and 18 auditoriums, the largest of which has a capacity of 2,300. It is the venue for the annual

(''Festival de Cannes''), and possesses "modern and high-tech facilities" for housing

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

s throughout the year.

References

Media

Institut National de l'Audiovisuel: Construction of the Palais des festivals (1947)
(commentary in French)

External links

* Buildings and structures in Cannes Convention centers in France Cannes Film Festival Theatres completed in 1949 Tourist attractions in Alpes-Maritimes Theatres completed in 1982 1949 establishments in France 1982 establishments in France {{film-festival-stub