Beurshal Haaglanden is is an exhibition

Exhibition

An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within museums, galleries and exhibition halls, and World's Fairs...

 and convention center

Convention center

A convention center is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typically offer sufficient floor area to accommodate several thousand attendees...

 in the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 city of Rijswijk

Rijswijk

Rijswijk is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It is a suburb of The Hague and covers an area of 14.48 km² ....

. It was founded in 1996 by Henk van der Straaten (co-founder of the former Konmar supermarket chain) as the Darling Market, a recreation of the international market in Haymarket

Haymarket, New South Wales

Haymarket is a locality of Sydney's city centre, New South Wales, Australia. It is located at the southern end of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney....

, near Sydney's Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour, New South Wales

Darling Harbour is a locality of the city centre of Sydney, Australia. It is a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district. The locality extends northwards from Chinatown, along both sides of Cockle Bay to King Street...

 which he encountered during a trip to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

).

In later years it become known as a venue for many fairs such as the Gothic & Fantasy Beurs (English: Gothic & Fantasy Fair) which is held there since 2003. The exhibition part of the venue later became known as Expo Rijswijk.

The Darling Market was discontinued in 2010 and the venue was renamed to its current name.