Modern period
International Fair Plovdiv
Bulgaria's largest and oldest international trade fair.
Story of the place
How to read this place
The International Fair Plovdiv began in 1892 as Bulgaria's first exhibition and is today the country's largest exhibition centre.
- First exhibition
- 1892
- Pavilions
- 24
- Shows/year
- ≈ 40
The first exhibition, 1892
In August 1892 Plovdiv opened Bulgaria's first industrial-agricultural exhibition — over 90,000 m², with participants from 25 countries and 167,000 visitors over two and a half months.
Source trail: Wikipedia — International Fair Plovdiv ↗An international fair
Regular editions began in 1933 (424 exhibitors); in 1934 the fair was declared permanent and the only one in Bulgaria, and in 1936 it joined the Union of International Fairs. The exhibition complex was built in 1948–1949 and hosted Expo ’81, ’85 and ’91.
Source trail: Wikipedia — International Fair Plovdiv ↗The fair today
Today the complex covers 360,000 m², of which 95,000 m² is exhibition space in 24 multifunctional pavilions. It hosts around 40 shows a year with 7,000 exhibitors from 58 countries.
Source trail: Wikipedia — International Fair Plovdiv ↗Dating
Modern period
Source trail: Wikipedia — International Fair Plovdiv ↗Architect/builder
not identified in the current public source
Source trail: Wikipedia — International Fair Plovdiv ↗Current status
Publicly documented institution, building, district or urban site in Plovdiv.
Open map ↗Public Wikidata record
bulgaria's largest and oldest international trade fair
- Type
- trade fair
Traces and evidence
-
Description and historical context for International Fair Plovdiv.
Source trail: Wikipedia — International Fair Plovdiv ↗ -
Coordinates for International Fair Plovdiv.
Source trail: Coordinates (Wikidata) · International Fair Plovdiv ↗ -
Media and license for International Fair Plovdiv: Internationa Fair Plovdiv Front.jpg.
Source trail: Wikimedia Commons — Internationa Fair Plovdiv Front.jpg ↗
Current status
Publicly documented institution, building, district or urban site in Plovdiv.
Ownership, care and institutions
The public record used here does not identify a traceable ownership or management history. This page therefore shows only verified institutional and source links.
Connected people
No people are linked in the current knowledge base.
Visit and orientation
- Coordinates
- 42.15809, 24.75700 · wikidata_coordinate
- Built/date
- Modern period
- Architect/builder
- not identified in the current public source
Full event stream
No separate events are linked to this place.
No separate events are present for this place in the current knowledge base; use the public record, sources and description.
Around this place
No other places are linked through the same events.
Then/now
Then Reference photo Opening of the 1939 Plovdiv Fair — then/now
Comparison between the archive image “Opening of the 1939 Plovdiv Fair” and a modern open-licensed image of International Fair Plovdiv.
Editorial review: This pairing of a historical image and a reference photo was automatically prepared and is shown as a provisional reference; independent editorial review of the visual match, licence and attribution information, and context is still pending.
- Match
- same place, approximate viewpoint
- Then
- Credit: Unknown author Media file Public domain accessed 2026-06-19
- Reference photo
- Credit: Boyan.prodanov Media file Public domain accessed 2026-06-19
Archive for this place
1892
First Plovdiv Exhibition, 1892 - image 1
Photograph from the 1892 Plovdiv International Exhibition, from the Bulgarian Archives State Agency collection.
Editorial review: This archive record was automatically prepared from Wikimedia Commons and is shown as a provisional reference; independent editorial review and more precise georeferencing are still pending.
Source: Wikimedia Commons — BASA-3K-7-327-1-International Fair Plovdiv, 1892.jpg ↗
1892
First Plovdiv Exhibition, 1892 - image 10
Second selected image from the 1892 exhibition photograph series.
Editorial review: This archive record was automatically prepared from Wikimedia Commons and is shown as a provisional reference; independent editorial review and more precise georeferencing are still pending.
Source: Wikimedia Commons — BASA-3K-7-327-10-International Fair Plovdiv, 1892.jpg ↗
1939
Opening of the 1939 Plovdiv Fair
Archive photograph from the opening of the 1939 Plovdiv Fair, linked to the modern fair complex.
Editorial review: This archive record was automatically prepared from Wikimedia Commons and is shown as a provisional reference; independent editorial review and more precise georeferencing are still pending.
Source: Wikimedia Commons — BASA 1318K-1-5896-2 Opening of 1939 Plovdiv fair.jpg ↗