Kongresowa's pre-pageant facelift

Sala Kongresowa at the Palace of Culture and Science (PKiN), with its large capacity, central location and several hotels just a stone's throw away, seems to be a perfect fit for this year's Miss World Contest, set to be held in Poland. According to the spokesperson for the Miss Polonia and Miss World 2006 Contests, Ewa Wachowicz, the Palace of Culture and Science and its Sala Kongresowa - whose first stage of renovations is scheduled to begin this year - are jointly being considered a possible site for this year's contest. "The decision, however, will be made at the end of March," Wachowicz says. The competition to hold the event should begin within the next couple of days.

"We will definately take part in the competition and do our best to complete the first stage of the renovation before September 15," says Krzysztof Markowski, technical director at PKiN. "The organizers will then have time for rehearsals and other preparations."

In the first stage of Sala Kongresowa's renovations, worth zł.6 million out of the zł.21 million planned for the entire three-year project, the floor and 900 chairs will be replaced, as will the air-conditioning system. New infrustructure for broadcasting language translations over radio and cable television lines will be installed, as well as a new sound system, including a modern alarm system.

Above all, the renovation aims to increace security in Sala Kongresowa. "There have been rumors that it isn't safe. It is, otherwise we couldn't organize any events there. But we have agreed, mainly with firemen, that there is a schedule of works to be done. Sala [Kongresowa] didn't fulfill all of the security requirements before, for example in terms of evacuation, but things that could cause direct danger have already been removed," says Markowski.

Boosting security will result in a decrease of the number of seats in the hall by roughly 10 percent - to some 2,600. "We will increase security and comfort and make some additional changes with the stage, but the general colors and the architectural appearance will remain. We aren't going to construct another theater. There are theaters with at least 6,000 seats within a couple of kilometers," says Markowski.

The PKiN plans to complete the tender for the renovation in May and sign a deal with the contractor and launch the works in June.