The Pontevedra Exhibition Centre is a complex for events such as exhibitions, fairs and conventions. It is in the Rosalía de Castro Park, near the banks of the

Lérez The Lérez is a river in South West Galicia, Spain. The river meets the Atlantic Ocean at Pontevedra, where it creates Pontevedra's ria. The sources of the long stream are in Serra do Candán, in the mountain of San Bieito, in the parish of Ac ...

River in

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a Spanish city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the '' Comarca'' (County) and Province of Pontevedra, and of the Rías Baixas in Galicia. It is also the capital of its own municipality wh ...

, Galicia (Spain).

History

The exhibition centre was built in 1997, on the initiative of the

Galician Government The Xunta de Galicia (; "Regional Government of Galicia") is the collective decision-making body of the government of the autonomous community of Galicia, composed of the President, the Vice-President(s) and the specialized ministers (''Consell ...

, with a modern architecture. It is the work of the architect Manuel de las Casas, who was entrusted with the project as an annex to the

Pontevedra Auditorium and Convention Centre The Pontevedra Auditorium and Convention Centre is a building that hosts conventions, exhibitions, concerts, plays and ballet and dance performances in Pontevedra (Spain). It is located in the northern part of the city, next to the Lérez riv ...

. He presented the project that best integrated the two buildings, achieving harmony between the whole complex and the spaces on the banks of the

. The Exhibition Centre was inaugurated on 17 December 1998 and opened to the public with the ''Pomóvil'' Automobile Fair inaugurated by the President of the

Xunta de Galicia The Xunta de Galicia (; "Regional Government of Galicia") is the collective decision-making body of the government of the autonomous community of Galicia, composed of the President, the Vice-President(s) and the specialized ministers (''Consell ...

. The Exhibition Centre was managed from 1998 until 2020 by the autonomous body ''Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones'', on behalf of the City Council of Pontevedra.

Facilities

The

exhibition 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 ...

has an area of 7,500 m2. It consists of a building 163 metres long, 34.4 metres wide and 15.2 metres high. The Pontevedra Trade Fair Centre has an open-air car park with a capacity of 230 vehicles. The

tetrahedral In geometry, a tetrahedron (plural: tetrahedra or tetrahedrons), also known as a triangular pyramid, is a polyhedron composed of four triangular faces, six straight edges, and four vertex corners. The tetrahedron is the simplest of all the ...

-shaped building is made of steel with aluminium and glass finishes and has a total surface area of approximately 6,000 m2. The multi-purpose building has a fully covered exhibition area, prepared to host all kinds of Fairs and Exhibitions, as well as an accreditation area for conferences in the entrance hall. It offers a wide range of layout options to best adapt to and customise events. This vast complex is complemented by the adjacent

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...

, with a total capacity of 1,118 seats and a total area of 10,000 m2. The tetrahedral-shaped building of the exhibition centre, with its hard, cold steel texture, aluminium walls and large windows, contrasts with the green slate slabs of the annex, the Pontevedra Congress Centre, to which it has direct access from the inside, allowing great versatility in the joint use of all its rooms, so that the restaurant, cafeteria and terrace services are for shared use. The dimensions of the spaces at the Pontevedra Trade Fair Centre are as follows: * Access hall for exhibitions and congresses : 350 m². * Main building area: 4,140 m². * First floor hall: 750 m². * Warehouse of the exhibition centre: 368 m². * Outdoor parking: 1,800 m². It is a harmonious combination of spatiality, versatility and luminosity; a multi-purpose space, surrounded by ten thousand square metres of gardens and green spaces.

Events

The exhibition centre hosts various professional and public events each year, including the Culturgal fair, the Etiqueta Negra fair (Galician gourmet products fair), the ''Pont Up Store'' fair, the ''Stock'' fair or the ''Si quero'' wedding fair, the ''Móvete'' car fair and the ''Mundonenos'' family and children's fair among others. In addition to this, the Pontevedra Trade Fair Centre is used for a wide range of leisure activities such as the installation of an

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

at Christmas or the celebration of open-air concerts on the outdoor esplanades. In the past, the exhibition centre has hosted important fairs such as ''Ferpalia'' (Galician tourism fair) or events such as the Galician fashion show ''Pontus Veteris''.

Gallery

File:Pontevedra - Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de Pontevedra (Pazo da Cultura) - Recinto Ferial 3.JPG, Aluminium and glass facade. File:Pontevedra - Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de Pontevedra (Pazo da Cultura) - Recinto Ferial 2.JPG, Entrance File:Pontevedra Capital Recinto Ferial vista general.jpg, General view in the Rosalía de Castro Park File:Pontevedra capital Parque Rosalía de Castro y Recinto Ferial.jpg, Main façade and Rosalía de Castro Park near the banks of the Lérez. File:Pontevedra-Pazo de exposiciones (7230142916).jpg, Side view File:Pontevedra capital Fachada trasera Recinto Ferial.jpg, Back side File:Recinto ferial-pontevedra.galicia - panoramio.jpg, Side view File:Pontevedra - Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de Pontevedra (Pazo da Cultura) - Recinto Ferial 1.JPG, Façade File:Culturgal 2016.jpg, Culturgal in 2016

History

Facilities

Events

Gallery

References

See also

Bibliography

Related articles

External links