Messe Freiburg

Conrad I, Duke of Zähringen shows all in all that the first fair was allowed to take place because of King Wenzel of Prague in 1379.

The first construction stage, together with its three halls, was made up of 18,500 m2 of floor space and service areas and was only implemented after just short of one and a half years.

These enriched the current surrounding areas of Wiehre, Oberau, Waldsee and Littenweiler, including 180 new residences and a huge shopping centre (Zentrum Oberwiehre).

The country supported the second construction phase of the Messe with a grant of 2,9 million Euros from the promotion program for investmenting in exhibitions.

The total investment for the fourth hall was around 22,9 million Euros, which was predominantly provided by regional companies.

The designs for the construction of the first three halls, subsequently the Rothaus-Arena and the expansion of its foyer were award-winning, making it an achievement for the architect, Detlef Sacker, who is from Freiburg.

The first construction stage, as well as the necessary connections to the roads and local public transport, including any further costs were paid with around 12,5 million Euros by the Badische Staatsbrauerei Rothaus.

Through the commercialization of the old trade fair in the east of the city, on which a new part of town and a shopping center were built, 12 million Euros were generated.

The city paid more than 9 million Euros for the external development of the new trade fair and the demoliting of the buildings in the old location.

The biggest events in the last decades included: the Tour de France in 2000, an open-air concert by Herbert Grönemeyer with 54000 visitors, the visit of the 14th Dalai Lama, several TV-shows (Wetten, dass..?, Verstehen Sie Spaß?, Musikantenstadl,...), the world championships of indoor cycling (in 2005) and roller figure skating.

Pope Benedict XVI held a vigil mass on 24 September 2011, together with 28,000 adolescents on the exhibition ground of the Freiburg Messe, as part of his visit to Germany in 2011.

In 2006, the company "Goldbeck Solar GmbH" provided a photovoltaic system with an output of 254 kilowatt-peak (kWp) for the Rothaus Arena's 6.500 m2 flat roof.

Thanks to newly created infrastructure, Intersolar had been moved from Pforzheim to Freiburg in 2000, where it is still organized, even after relocating to Munich because of its growing size, under the direction of the FWTM and their partner "Solar Promotion".

Apart from Intersolar, the leading trade fair in the brush industry "INTERbrossa-BRUSHexpo" (Interbrush) takes place in Freiburg every four years.

Furthermore, there are the traditional "Baden-Messe", the "CFT - Camping, Freizeit und Touristik", the "Automobil", the "Modellbau" as well as two second-hand car fairs and numerous guest shows.