RAI Amsterdam

The RAI started out as a small association called De Rijwiel-Industrie (“the Bicycle Industry”) in 1893 and the first exhibition was held in 1895. In 1900 the name Rijwiel-Industrie was extended with an A for auto (car), creating the now familiar RAI (Rijwiel en Automobiel Industrie).

Between 1922 and 1961, the RAI was based in a building on Ferdinand Bolstraat in Amsterdam (the Oude RAI or ‘Old RAI’). Before then – from its beginnings to 1922 – the association had no permanent exhibition centre of its own. It used instead the famous Amsterdam Paleis voor Volksvlijt (‘Palace for National Industry’).

The current Amsterdam RAI complex on the Zuidas (‘South Axis’, the new business heart of the city stretching south from the centre) was opened in 1961.