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Alexandreio Melathron (Nick Galis Hall)

Indoor sports arena in Thessaloniki, Greece

Summary

Indoor sports arena in Thessaloniki, Greece

Field	Value
name	Alexandreion Melathron Nick Galis Hall
nickname	Palais des Sports
fullname	Alexandreion Melathron Nick Galis Hall
image	Salonica-Central-Aerial.jpg
caption	Aerial view of the Trade Fair area. The building down left is Alexandreion.
image_size	250
location	Thessaloniki, Greece
coordinates
opened	29 June 1966
renovated	2004, 2015
owner	Greek Ministry of Culture, General Secretariat of Sports
surface	Parquet
architect	Petros Gianettos, M. Guyon and T. Jeanblock
former_names	Alexandreion Melathron
tenants
seating_capacity	Basketball: 5,138 (permanent seating)
6,000 (with temporary seating)
public_transit	Panepistimio

6,000 (with temporary seating)

Alexandreion Melathron, Nick Galis Hall (since 2013) (Greek: Αλεξάνδρειον Μέλαθρον, Σάλα Νίκος Γκάλης, από το 2013) is an indoor sports arena that is located in Thessaloniki, Greece. It is also often referred to as Palais des Sports (Greek: Παλαί ντε Σπορ).

The arena is mainly used to host basketball and volleyball games. The arena's main hall, called Nick Galis Hall, has a permanent seating capacity of 5,138, and a capacity of 6,000 with temporary seating, for basketball games. The arena also contains a practice court, club offices, shops, and a museum dedicated to the Aris basketball club. The arena hosts the home games of Aris Thessaloniki B.C., a member of the Greek League.

Location

The Alexandreion Melathron Nikos Galis Hall indoor arena is located in downtown Thessaloniki, inside the International Trade Fair grounds. Bus lines #2, #7, #8, #10, #14, #27, #31, and #58, running along Egnatia Avenue, stop almost in front of the arena. Ιn 2020, the new metro station, "Panepistimio", which is located near to the arena, will open.

Construction

The arena was designed by the architects P. Gianettos, M. Guyon and T. Jeanblock between 1960 and 1962. It was built in 1966. The structure shares two of the architects with the Palais des Sports de Gerland in Lyon and has many similarities.

The building was redeveloped and updated in 2004, in preparation for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. The updates involved reconstruction of all the building's external and internal areas. Apart from what is directly visible to everybody, other works included new electrical and mechanical updates, air-conditioning, and audiovisual facilities. New seats, CCTV, and new lighting were also installed.

These updates resulted in a lower permanent seating capacity (5,138 compared to the previous 6,000) for Alexandreion Arena, which reopened its gates in late 2004. The arena was again updated in 2015.

History

The arena was named after Alexander the Great, the king (basileus) of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia. It is also commonly referred to as the "Palais des Sports" (meaning "Sports Palace", in French). Under its former names, the arena was the first large indoor basketball arena built in Greece, and remained the largest until the year 1985, when the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Athens, was completed and opened to the public.

Being part of the Thessaloniki International Fair, the arena also serves for many purposes other than sports.

On May 8, 2013, at an event honoring the legendary former Aris' and the Greek National Team's player, Nikos Galis, the Deputy Minister of Culture of Greece, Giannis Ioannidis, announced that the main hall of the arena was to be renamed to "Nick Galis Hall".

Ownership

The arena is owned and operated by the Greek Ministry of Culture's General Secretariat of Sports.

Gallery

Alexandreion Melathron Nikos Galis Hall Image Gallery
{{Gallery

References

"Capacity 5.138 seats.".
[http://www.gazzetta.gr/basketball/article/1097588/diamantidis-oe-oe-oe-apo-6000-kosmo-sto-nick-galis-hall-vid «Διαμαντίδης ΟΕ ΟΕ ΟΕ» από 6.000 κόσμο στο Nick Galis Hall! (vid) {{in lang. el.]
[http://www.eurohoops.net/en/nba-news/466675/antetokounbros-next-stop-athens/ Antetokounbros: Next stop, Athens!]
"Capacity 5.138 seats.".
[http://www.gazzetta.gr/basketball/article/1097588/diamantidis-oe-oe-oe-apo-6000-kosmo-sto-nick-galis-hall-vid «Διαμαντίδης ΟΕ ΟΕ ΟΕ» από 6.000 κόσμο στο Nick Galis Hall! (vid) {{in lang. el.]
[http://www.eurohoops.net/en/nba-news/466675/antetokounbros-next-stop-athens/ Antetokounbros: Next stop, Athens!]
[http://www.sport24.gr/Basket/OmadesBasket/A1Aris/to-neo-nick-galis-hall-se-kitrinomayro-fonto.3684289.html Το νέο "Nick Galis Hall" σε κιτρινόμαυρο φόντο {{in lang. el.]
[http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite5_1_08/05/2013_497737 Ekathimerini.com Nick Galis: A night to remember.]

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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