Alte Messe Leipzig

During World War II, the arms industry occupied several halls in the form of aircraft production and maintenance.

After severe war destruction, only 60 per cent of the hall could be restructured until 1951, and in the interior metal pillars and a gallery could be built.

[18][29] Since 1996 the Alte Messe has been transformed for science, business, trade and enterprises according to a general plan decided by the city council in 1993.

Also the surroundings of the former site have been partially developed, especially the huge double domed hall of the former central market.

[18] In 2022 a reporter wrote that the charm of musty-smelling, empty exhibition halls of the GDR has given way to a considerable buzz of activity.

[33] The utilisation concept of Alte Messe schedules four different main focuses: Between Alte Messe and the German National Library at Deutscher Platz have been built Bio City Leipzig and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology as a centre of science.

In 2008 the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology (IZI) was finished; its annexes are called "daughter-cells".

Alongside Bio City is also housed Inspirata, a collection of interactive mathematical and natural scientific exhibits.

[34] In October 2021, the significant growing biotechnological business c-LEcta saved its place in the new BioSquare whose construction started in 2022.

[35] Over the years, some facilities for football, ice hockey and beach volleyball were built, some of them in combination with gastronomic businesses.

[34] On a plot of 71,000 m2 (760,000 sq ft), where the old exhibition halls 1–6 were opened in 2013, is a retail furniture store, Porta Möbel.

On and around the site of Alte Messe over the years was developed a so-called Automeile (Mile of car traders) with dealerships of the brands Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Dodge, Honda, Jeep, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen supplemented by a centre of Triumph Motorcycles and a car components store.

The Alte Messe site is very well accessible by capable roads from every direction and by the public transit system "S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland", by the Leipzig tramway network and by bus.