RANKERX—LEIPZIG-DE-FÜR-EN-(TRANSLATE—EN)—203

The Leipzig Trade Fair – History and Developments

The trade fair history of the city of Leipzig extends over a period of more than 1000 years. In the 10th century, under the protection of the "urbs Libizi" castle, the first merchant settlements and markets developed along the intersection of the early medieval trade routes "via regia" (west-east direction) and the "via imperii" (north-south direction). The city of Leipzig received the privilege of holding a trade fair in 1497 from Emperor Maximilian I. By the end of the 19th century, the Leipzig trade fair had developed into a pure goods fair, with traveling traders regularly coming to Leipzig on certain dates to sell their goods there to sell directly to a customer. The most important trade goods at that time included furs, cloths, metals and later the famous Meissen porcelain from Saxony. Over the course of the centuries, the Leipzig trade fair location grew into the main trading center for goods between Western and Eastern Europe. But in the course of the onset of the industrial revolution, these pure goods fairs found themselves in a general lack of space, since a constantly growing number of traders with ever larger quantities of their products streamed into the city, also benefiting from the railway connection that had been built in the meantime. This circumstance led to a veritable death of trade fairs in the entire trading area of ​​Germany. However, the Leipzig Trade Fair should be spared this fate, as it was possible to react to the new framework conditions in good time, both structurally and organizationally, and a new form of trade fair was developed.

In 1895, for example, a so-called sample fair was held for the first time, at which only samples were exhibited instead of the actual goods. The goods were then purchased as part of an order, which meant that the actual trading process now took place independently of the trade fair

The constantly growing number of exhibitors and new products forced the city fathers of Leipzig to build new and functional trade fair and exhibition halls at the turn of the century. Up until the 1930s, more than 30 trade fair buildings and trade fair palaces were built right in the city center. The expansion of exhibition capacities consequently led to a greater variety of exhibiting sectors. New trade fairs emerged, such as the Sporting Goods Fair (1910), the Food and Beverage Fair (1913) and finally, after the First World War, the Textile Fair (1916).

But the rapid technical progress also poses new challenges for the Leipzig Trade Fair. There was increasingly a lack of the necessary capacities to adequately exhibit the new vehicles and machines. So in 1920 it was decided to build a new, larger exhibition center 2 km south of the city center – the so-called "Alte Messe Leipzig".

The rapid rise of Leipzig to a national and international trade fair center was reinforced in the period before the Second World War, because the National Socialists appointed the Leipzig Trade Fair to the imperial trade fair city and Leipzig was the only German location allowed to organize foreign trade fairs. After the outbreak of the Second World War, no more trade fairs took place, as the exhibition halls had meanwhile been converted into assembly halls for the armaments industry. In December 1943, around 80% of the exhibition center was destroyed by bombing during an Allied air raid on Leipzig. After the end of the Second World War, the revival of Leipzig as a trade fair location was very much in the interest of the Soviet occupying power. The first Leipzig post-war trade fair took place as early as 1946.

Under the influence of the socialist GDR government, Messe Leipzig became the most important hub for the entire Eastern Bloc and also served as a center of trade between East and West during the Cold War. Hardly anything changed in the trade fair strategy during the 40 years under East German rule. The so-called universal trade fairs offered the visitor a fairly accurate picture of the economic sectors of the GDR and the allied Eastern Bloc countries, especially of course the USSR.

The period after German reunification presented the Leipzig Trade Fair with its greatest challenge to date. The necessary transformation of the trade fair into the market economy system of the Federal Republic of Germany and the hitherto unfamiliar competition from other German trade fair cities such as Frankfurt, Hanover or Munich caused serious problems.

Messe Leipzig was therefore faced with a radical new beginning, the form and effects of which will be described in the following chapters.

2. From the "old" to the "new Leipzig" trade fair center

The organizers of the Leipzig Trade Fair; Immediately after the political change, it became clear to the Leipzig trade fair office that the concept of the trade fair had to change fundamentally in order to keep Leipzig as a location. The concept of universal fairs was quickly abandoned, the last of which was held in 1991. A new concept envisaged the organization of trade fairs which, it was agreed, should meet the requirements of the free market in a united Europe. The first trade fairs on the subject of building and travel took place as early as 1990. Initially, the focus was on trade fair topics that particularly affected the integration and the transformation process of the new federal states and the integration of the eastern neighboring countries into the European economic area.

There were also important changes in terms of trade fair organizers. The state trade fair office in Leipzig was dissolved and transformed into the Leipziger Messe GmbH. The Free State of Saxony (40%) and the City of Leipzig (60%) serve as shareholders. Initially, mehr was primarily concerned with reviving the Leipzig Trade Fair. Above all, it was necessary to internationalize the entire trade fair activities in order to be able to present the trade fair to a broader public (primarily from Central and Western Europe). In a short time, 13 new foreign agencies were founded for this purpose in order to be able to act more closely and easily with the relevant trading partners.

Illustration not included in this extract

Fig. 1, source: www.messe-leipzig.de

3. The new exhibition center

The basic prerequisites for a new era of the Leipzig Trade Fair were thus quickly created, at least from an organizational point of view. On the other hand, the extremely dilapidated and outdated building structure of the Leipzig exhibition halls in the city center once again presented the exhibition company with major problems. Renovating the old exhibition halls would have cost immense sums. In addition, the capacities of the halls would hardly have met modern requirements. So the Leipziger Messe GmbH decided, after consultation with the federal government regarding financial aid, to build the new exhibition center on the northern outskirts of the city. The new building began in August 1991 and after an extremely short construction phase, the New Leipzig Trade Fair Center opened in April 1996.