The first Palais des Festivals et des Congrès was built in 1949 to host the Film festival founded in 1946. The original building was located on the boulevard of La Croisette on the present site of the Hotel Noga Hilton. In response to the growing success of the Festival and the advent of the first business conventions, such as the MIPTV since 1965, the City of Cannes decided to build a new Palais in 1979. The new building, designed by the architects Bennett & Druet and constructed on the site of the municipal Casino, opened in December 1982. and expanded in 1999 with the construction of the Espace Riviera, a new space of 10,000 square meters. Today, the Palais des Festivals has an overall space capacity of 25,000 square meters for exhibitions, which is used for exhibitions, as well as numerous rooms and no less than 18 auditoriums. In addition, the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès is equipped with highly sophisticated sound and lighting systems, WiFi system, and a network of video surveillance which provides a very high level of security