History
The building opened in 1981 and was known then as the Palace of Culture. The original construction area amounted to 34,850 m2, with nearly 5,000 seats in six main auditoriums, 1,000 seats in multi-purpose suites, more than 1,000 seats in restaurant facilities, and around 3,000 rooms. The biggest auditorium – the Congress Auditorium – had 2,800 seats available and a stage of 576 m2.
In its original design, the Palace of Culture never became a real cultural and social center, and after 1989, when the Congress Centre transformed into an independent corporation wholly owned by the capital city of Prague, it became apparent that the building needed a thorough reconstruction.
Reconstruction
The reconstruction and structural completion of the Prague Congress Centre for the IMF/WBG Annual Meetings will significantly contribute to the development of conference tourism in Prague in the coming years.
The plan for the reconstruction and structural completion of the Prague Congress Centre reflects requirements for organizing the most challenging events, which also include the Annual Meetings of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group (IMF/WBG) in September of this year. A more general objective of the investment amounting to 2.8 billion CZK is to create conference facilities for other major events in the first decades of the next millennium. This will contribute substantially to conference tourism and tourism development in Prague.
Facilities available to the delegates and guests of the Prague financial and banking forum in September 2000 include:
An auditorium for the ceremonial opening and plenary session with a minimum number of 4,000 seats, of which approximately 10% are in the form of table layout. The auditorium can be used for plenary sessions in its smaller version (at least 1,500 seats).
Other meeting auditoriums and suites with capacities ranging from 40 to 1,000 seats, divided in accordance with the requirements of IMF/WBG.
Around 870 rooms (of which 801 are offices) designated for delegations, delegates, observers, service personnel, including operational rooms to secure all the services required, with a total area of approximately 20,000 m2. All rooms will be located in close proximity to the meeting facilities.
A press center, with a total area of approximately 2,000 m2, has been equipped to facilitate all required services. All congress rooms will be outfitted with technology, cables and audio-video equipment to implement and provide all services and activities at the expected level of quality when the Annual Meetings take place.
Service facilities which allow for all gastronomic services to be provided (fast food, room-service, catering, individual refreshments, parties etc.) for delegates, guests, service staff as well as visitors.
Basic Structural Completion Details:
Underground construction area 7,700 m2
Ground-level construction area 4,790 m2
Total enclosed area 156,100 m3
From this, underground floors 61,300 m3
From this, above- ground floors 94,800 m3
Number of hotel rooms 261
Total office area 6,000 m2
Office area to lease 13,760 m2
Number of parking lots