History of Messe Essen - Messe Essen GmbH

1927 Seven halls with 20,000 m² of exhibition area are already available.
1929 The "Gruga" – the Great Ruhr Landscape Gardening Exhibition - takes place in the direct vicinity of the exhibition halls. This exhibition revives the city's economic life and enhances Essen's attraction as a fair city.
1934 The fair is renamed "Gemeinnützige Ausstellungsgesellschaft mbH" (GAG). Some of the halls are confiscated during the war. Only very few exhibitions can take place. At the end of the war the halls are destroyed or heavily damaged. After provisional restoration of the buildings the first event after the war is held in 1948.
1958 The Grugahalle is completed and taken over by the exhibition company.
1971 Gemeinnützige Ausstellungsgesellschaft (GAG) is renamed Ausstellungs- und Messegesellschaft mbH Essen (AMGE).
1972 Exhibition hall 6 is completed at a cost of some DM 6 million. The total hall area is therefore roughly 50,000 m².
1976 The new fair hall 12 with a total exhibition area of 8,408 m² is put into service.
In autumn 1979 building commences on a new two-storey hall. After this investment of DM 10 million, Messe Essen offers a total of 60,000 m² of exhibition area from March 1980.
AMGE is officially renamed MESSE ESSEN GmbH in 1982.
1983 The exhibition area increases to 66,000 m² with the new DM 25 million fair building with the new entrance East and the new hall 2.
In 1988, the year of the 75th jubilee of the fair company, the exhibition space is expanded to 72,000 m². Further investments in the construction of the fair building South and other fair halls are approved in the same year by the Supervisory Board.
1990 The fair building South and the exhibition halls 1 and 1A are put into service. Messe Essen now has a total exhibition area of 90,000 m².
In early 1998, the Supervisory Board approves the largest investment in the company history of Messe Essen amounting to DM 180 million. In the same year the new image is introduced. With the claim "Place of Events", a message has been developed which enhances both the national importance and the added value of the trio, Messe Essen, Grugahalle and Grugapark, and also takes into account the international orientation of Messe Essen. At the end of 1998, the congress activities are hived off from Messe Essen and transferred to the newly established CCE GmbH + Co. KG. The declared aim is to further strengthen this sector and expand its fields of activity.
In August 1999, the official cornerstone is laid for the expansion project "Messe 2000". To the west of the fair building South, a new west wing is created according to the designs of the Italian architect Mario Bellini with an exhibition area of 20,000 m², various restaurant sections, a spacious foyer and several congress halls. With the expansion of the exhibition space to 110,000 m², Messe Essen breaks through the "sound barrier" of 100,000 m². The exhibitors and visitors can now expect even more service, quality and functionality. The new fair space is available from December 2000.