| Galatsi Arena |
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photographs featured on this page are presented in smaller size.
You may enlarge any of them and see it in full size by simply clicking on it. |
| Capacity: 5,141 |
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Location:
The arena is located in the district of Galatsi, about 8 km north
of the Athens city centre.
Access by car is fairly simple, as the arena lies on Veikou Avenue, which is a major Athens artery. If you are not familiar with the city, a safe bet would be to use Attiki Odos ring road to get there. Get off the motorway at exit 12 ("Kimis - Ol. Stadium") and continue south, driving by the Olympic Stadium. You will reach Galatsi Arena 3.5 km after exiting Attiki Odos motorway. |
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You
may also use public transport to get to the arena. The easiest way
is to use bus #608 from the Athens city centre (e.g.
from Panepistimiou Avenue or Omonia Square). This bus's terminus is
right outside Galatsi Arena. Another option is to use the Metro
(line 1) and get off at "Ano Patissia". From there
take bus #444, which also stops outside the arena, on Veikou Avenue.
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| Built in : 2004 |
| Home of : No professional basketball club currently uses the arena |
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More
data: Galatsi Arena was purpose-built to host two different sports
in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games: rhythmic gymnastics
and table tennis. This new arena features a very interesting
design. Its roof takes the dynamic shape of the wing of an aeroplane,
while the large glass surfaces make sure that its interior is filled
with sunlight all day. It was designed by Alexandros Tobazis and built
by EMPEDOS S.A. at a cost of € 43 million. Construction work
commenced in November 2001 and the new arena was inaugurated (although
not 100% ready) on
28 January 2004, during the Athens International Table Tennis Open
Tournament .
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The
construction of the new arena faced many difficulties. The most important
of these was the fact that local residents and a number of archaeologists
claimed that it would dwarf a nearby byzantine church. Eventually,
the Supreme Court ruled that works could go ahead, however it imposed
a modification to the arena's original plans: the masts the roof were
deemed to be too tall and had to be scrapped.
Have a look at renderings and plans that depict both the older version (with the masts) and the final design of the arena. You can thus make the comparison with the "final result". |
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Following
the 2004 Olympics, the use of Galatsi Arena (and of the two adjacent
training halls) was granted to AEK Athens Basketball Club. Please
note that the arena's capacity during the Olympic Games was 6,200,
with the use of an extra lower tier of seats, which was removed after
the Games ended. The administration of AEK Athens B.C. repeatedly
claimed that they aimed to re-install this tier and increase the arena's
capacity, however nothing was done to this end. AEK left this arena
in the summer of 2006 and returned to the Olympic
Sports Hall.
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| Galatsi Arena is owned by the Greek State through Olympic Real Estate S.A. |
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The
space image of the Galatsi Olympic Arena comes from the website of
Digitalglobe
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