The Darmstadtium is the congress centre in Darmstadt. It was named after the super-heavy atom first…read morecreated on November 9, 1994 at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Wixhausen (near Darmstadt).
The building cost a massive 77 million Euros! And whilst Darmstadt did need a proper conference centre, I'm not sure if it needed a 77 million Euro one. That said, it is easy to get to, being in the centre of Darmstadt, and architecturally it's quite interesting, it's supposed to look like a ship, and there's a bit of the old city wall merged into it. However, in my opinion it's simply in the wrong place. They've sort of squashed it in to fit, and the approach to the car park is like something out of Grand Theft Auto (one of the scary bits).
The supposed opening gala was so overpriced and badly realised, no one wanted to go. German comic Helge Schneider cancelled because the place was still a building site, to quote I don't perform on building sites, I'd love to come back when it's finished. All in all it seems to be a bit of a white elephant. I can only hope the future will be more promising.
