It is clear today that many foreign visitors to Prague have come to know the city through the Prague Congress Centre, as it is a place where tens of thousands of experts meet every day to talk about their matters of interest. This brings money not only to the Congress Centre itself, but also to the city, its inhabitants, business people, etc. According to various surveys, congress guests rank highly as those tourists, who spend the most money. And that is a good sign for tourism.
The Prague Congress Centre was originally called Pakul, a blend of its full name – The Palace of Culture and it was built to serve exclusively solemn meetings of the Communist Party. The location of the building was criticised, as it was one of the most sensitive places in the city – the edge of Nusle Valley, which is from an architectonic point of view almost as important as the edge of Letná Plain. But the aim of this article is not to judge the Centre and its location. However, to illustrate the problem, here is a story from Večerní Praha, a daily newspaper, dating back to the times of the construction of the Palace of Culture. The article about the construction was on the same page as an article about drugs which was named Before a Monster Grows Up and warned against the abuse of medical drugs. At the last minute, the headline had to be removed so that people did not associate it with the Palace of Culture. It is true that in its time, the Palace of Culture was a target of strong criticism from many Praguers, who did not like such a big interference into Prague’s skyline. Today, almost no one thinks about it and most people who grew up after the “Pakul” was already built, do not really sense the vast mass of the building.
Yet, all that is bad can lead to something good and so this building overlooking the Nusle Valley has also one positive side. Thanks to the Prague Congress Centre, Prague can offer a venue for international congresses and thus the city can compete with many other European cities, even Vienna, which used to be the number one amongst congressional venues.