30 years ago, the multifunctional arena in Ostrava was opened

Ostrava - Thirty years ago, on May 17, 1986, a multi-functional arena was ceremoniously opened in Ostrava, which was one of the most modern and largest in Europe at the time. The hall is the home stadium of the ice hockey players of Vítkovice. Besides hockey and other sports battles, the hall has also witnessed numerous concerts by the biggest stars of world pop music.

The author of one of the landmarks of Ostrava, located in Zábřeh, was architect Vladimír Dedeček, one of the most significant figures in Slovak architecture. He began working on the project of the Palace of Culture and Sports in 1974 and completed it in 1976. In the same year, the demolition of houses at the site of today's arena on the border of Vítkovice and Zábřeh nad Odrou began.

Construction began in 1978. The builders faced a demanding task - to place a steel structure weighing 6,000 tons on the foundations of the hall. Using cranes and cables, the roof, weighing more than 1,200 tons, was also lifted. The grand opening of the hall was marked by international competitions in sports gymnastics, the Vítkovická Beam.

Over the years, the arena has had several names. Since its inception, it was named the Palace of Culture and Sports. This name was associated with it until 2004. Between 2003 and 2004, the hall underwent reconstruction, and after its completion, it was named after the energy company ČEZ and then briefly Ostrava Arena. Since this year, it has been called Ostravar Arena.

The Ostrava arena, with a capacity of 12,500 spectators, is the second largest hall in the Czech Republic and the largest multi-purpose hall in Moravia. For hockey matches, it has a capacity of around 10,000 people, which ranks it third behind the O2 Arena, which is now the home stadium of Prague's Sparta, and the Pardubice Tipsport Arena. Annually, it is visited by an average of around 400,000 people. It is operated by the municipal joint-stock company Vítkovice Arena, which also manages the city stadium, a recently opened athletics hall, a smaller multi-purpose hall, and a hotel.

The largest sporting events hosted by the hall include the Women's Volleyball World Championships (1986) and Women's Basketball World Championships (2010), the European Table Tennis Championships (2010), and especially the Ice Hockey World Championships in 2004 and 2015. The Czech Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams also played their matches in the hall.