Trade Fair Palace

Welcome to a concrete colossus that rises eight stories above the Holešovice district, stretching 140 meters long and 80 meters wide. When this building opened in 1928, it was the world's largest functionalist structure, designed by Josef Fuchs and Oldřich Tyl to showcase industrial machinery at trade fairs. Le Corbusier visited that year. He called it "a very interesting building but not yet architecture." Sounds dismissive. But historians who witnessed his visit say he was actually envious. The famous architect was designing family villas at the time. Here stood this massive modern building following his own design principles. He later admitted he regretted that this city could afford such a monumental project while he couldn't. The palace hosted 26 trade fairs before World War II. During Nazi occupation, Jews were gathered in huts next to the building before deportation to concentration camps. On August 14, 1974, fire broke out. It burned for 6 days straight. By August 20, the palace was a gutted shell. Demolition seemed certain. Architects fought to save it in 1976. Twenty years of reconstruction followed. When it reopened in 1995, it had become home to the National Gallery's modern art collection. Picasso, Van Gogh, Klimt now hang where industrial machinery once stood.