Zagreb Fair ( hr, Zagrebački velesajam) is a complex of exhibition pavilions in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, Croatia. The company which operates the venue carries the same name. The Zagreb Fair is the main venue in Zagreb for trade shows and fairs. Every year more than 25 specialised events are held at the venue, attended by more than 6,000 participants from 50 countries. Apart from trade fairs it is also used as a

convention center 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 ...

History

The history of trade fairs in Zagreb dates back to 1242 when the Hungarian king

Bela IV Bela may refer to: Places Asia *Bela Pratapgarh, a town in Pratapgarh District, Uttar Pradesh, India *Bela, a small village near Bhandara, Maharashtra, India *Bela, another name for the biblical city Zoara * Bela, Dang, in Nepal *Bela, Janakpur, ...

issued a Golden Bull declaring Zagreb a free royal city and granting it the right to hold fairs. The first international exhibition in Zagreb was held in 1864. Zagreb Assembly ( hr, Zagrebački zbor), the predecessor to Zagreb Fair, was founded by a group of Croatian businessmen, including

Ferdinand Budicki Ferdinand Budicki (11 April 1871 – 25 June 1951) was a Croatian pioneer of car, bicycle and airplane culture. A resident of Zagreb, Croatia, Budicki was reportedly the first to drive a car in his home city, and the first to open a car dealersh ...

and

Samuel David Alexander Samuel "Sami" David Alexander (13 July 1862 – 8 March 1943) was a Croatian Jewish industrialist, doyen of Croatian industrialists, a philanthropist and a member of the Zagreb prominent Alexander family. Background and family Alexander, known ...

. The Assembly was one of the co-founding institutions of The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry in 1925. In June 1941 the Croatian fascist, ultranationalist

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...

regime established a transit camp for Jews in the Fairgrounds. Most were placed in what used to be the French Pavilion and 2 neighboring ones. From there, in June–August 1941 the Ustaše shipped 2,500 Jews to the Ustaše death camps at

Gospić Gospić () is a town in the mountainous and sparsely populated region of Lika, Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Lika-Senj County. Gospić is located near the Lika River in the middle of a karst field ( Ličko Polje). Gospić is the ...

- Jadovno- Pag Island (because this was a highly visible location in the center of town, the Ustaše later replaced the transit camp with the more remote Zavratnica transit camp in eastern Zagreb, from which Jews were shipped to the Jasenovac camp). Today, the old Fairgrounds is the site of the University of Zagreb Student Center. Svečano otvaranje 51

At the ascent of the communist regime, in 1946, Zagreb Assembly was disbanded and its property and role was taken over by the newly incorporated Zagreb Fair. The Zagreb Fair was also the first fair held in post-World War II

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

in 1947. In 1956 it was relocated to the newly constructed Novi Zagreb part of the city south of the river

Sava The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally t ...

. During the

European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the continent to reques ...

in 2015, when over 39,000 migrants from the Middle East, South Asia and Africa entered

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

, the fairgrounds served as an acceptance center housing over 1,200 migrants.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 45, 46, 40, N, 15, 58, 12, E, type:landmark, display=title Trade fairs in Croatia Companies based in Zagreb Buildings and structures in Zagreb

History

References

Further reading

External links