History
Targi Kielce's history
Targi Kielce, the company initially named Kielce Trade Fairs was founded in 1992. It was a joint endeavour of Kielce Mayor Robert Rzepka, Kielce Voivode Józef Płoskonka and the director responsible for the Świętokrzyskie economy - Stanisław Gieroń. Not only did they provide the venue for the future exhibition centre, but also promoted the idea among the Kielce’s fifty councillors.
The first expos were developed under the auspices of the Świętokrzyskie Regional Development Agency and its president Roman Musiał and the deputy president Andrzej Mochoń. The International Defence Industry Exhibition has been the event of the greatest promotional importance ever since its unveiling. Andrzej Mochoń, initially the vice president and then the president of the Świętokrzyskie Regional Development Agency was one of the co-founders and initiators of MSPO, Kielce's first major exhibition. In 1996, Mr Mochoń was the president of the Targi Kielce Trade Fair for several months. For several years since March 2000 the Poznań International Fair had a dominant position at the general shareholders meeting. The cooperation terminated in 2006 when the city of Kielce repurchased the shares as the result of the conflict over the profits allocation for the expansion of the exhibition centre's infrastructure.
In 2002 the centre changed its name to Targi Kielce. Since 21 January 2006, Andrzej Mochoń PhD. has been the Targi Kielce Management Board President.
With its professional team, Targi Kielce is able to organise events of international significance, including the International Defence Industry Exhibition MSPO, the Plastics Processing Exhibition PLASTPOL. Targi Kielce is also the organiser of one of Poland's most popular exhibition which enjoys the greatest number of visitors – every year the International Fair of Agricultural Techniques AGROTECH host more than 70,000 guests. Targi Kielce is also the stage for the International Exhibition of Church Construction, Church Fittings and Furnishings and Religious Art SACROEXPO and the International Funeral and Cemetery Fair NECROEXPO.
In 2013 Targi Kielce completed the greatest facility modernisation and expansion programme in its history. The expansion scheme was held within the scope of the “Modernisation and expansion of Targi Kielce Infrastructure as the International Exhibition-Congress Centre” investment scheme, held within the framework of the Measure III.2 "Congress and Tourism Infrastructure" of the Operational Programme "Development of Eastern Poland for the years 2007 – 2013" The construction of the entry terminals, the E Expo Hall, the Congress Centre and the multi-level car-park accounted for the total of 189 million and 858 thousand PLN (gross). As the result of the modernisation programme, Targi Kielce offers the total of 90 thousand square metres of exhibition grounds, including 36 thousand metres of indoor exhibition space in the seven Expo Halls. There is Poland's most state-of-the-art expo pavilion of 5.3 thousand square metres which can be used as the venue for congresses and events for 4,500 people. As part of the expansion scheme, the multi-storey car park for 480 cars, the congress and banquet hall for 850 people, the 19 modern conference rooms as well as the conference rooms at the 57-meter lookout tower have also been put into operation.