Alexandreio Melathron Nick Galis Hall (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: Αλεξάνδρειο Μέλαθρον, Σάλα Νίκος Γκάλης) is an
indoor sports arena that is located in
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
. It is also often referred to as the Palais des Sports (Greek: Παλαί ντε Σπορ).
The arena is mainly used to host
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
and
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...
games. The arena's main hall, called Nikos 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 Alexandreio Melathron Nikos Galis Hall indoor arena is located in downtown Thessaloniki, inside the
International trade fare grounds. Bus lines #2, #7, #8, #10, #14, #27, #31, and #58, running along Egnatia Avenue, stop right 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
Palais des Sports de Gerland is an indoor sporting arena located in Lyon, France. The seating capacity of the arena is 5,910 people.
History
It was the venue of the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon tournament. The arena was the regular home venue of ...
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 unfortunately resulted in a lower permanent seating capacity (5,138 compared to the previous 6,000) for Alexandreio Arena, which reopened its gates in late 2004. The arena was again updated in 2015.
History
The arena was named after
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
, the king (
basileus) of
ancient greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
kingdom of
Macedon
Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an Classical antiquity, ancient monarchy, kingdom on the periphery of Archaic Greece, Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. Th ...
ia. 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
The Peace and Friendship Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Ειρήνης και Φιλίας, Stadio Eirinis kai Philias), commonly known by its acronym SEF, is a multi-purpose indoor arena that is located in Piraeus, on the coastal zone of Attica, Gre ...
in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, was completed and opened to the public.
Being part of the Thessaloniki International Fair, the arena also serves for many purposes other than sports. It has hosted many international basketball events, and was also the home arena for both "arch-rivals",
Aris B.C. and
PAOK B.C. for many years; up until the year 2000, when
PAOK B.C. moved into their own new stadium, the
P.A.O.K. Sports Arena.
On May 8, 2013, at an event honoring the well-known retired former Aris player,
Nikos Galis
Nikolaos Georgalis ( el, Νικόλαος Γεωργαλής; born July 23, 1957), commonly known as either Nikos Galis ( el, Νίκος Γκάλης), or Nick Galis, is a retired Greek professional basketball player. Galis, who during his playin ...
, the Greek deputy culture minister,
Giannis Ioannidis
Giannis Ioannidis (alternate spellings: Ioannis, Yiannis, Yannis) ( Greek: Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης; born 26 February 1945 in Thessaloniki, Greece) is a former Greek basketball player, professional basketball coach, and Greece New Democ ...
, announced that the main hall of the arena was to be renamed to "Nikos Galis Hall".
Ekathimerini.com Nick Galis: A night to remember.
/ref>
Ownership
The arena is owned and operated by the Greek Ministry of Culture
The Ministry of Culture and Sports ( el, Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και Αθλητισμού) is the government department of Greece entrusted with preserving the country's cultural heritage, promoting the arts, and overseeing s ...
's General Secretariat of Sports.
Gallery
See also
* List of indoor arenas in Greece
References
External links
Official site, now obsolete - Archived on 2011/12/19
@ Stadia.gr
{{Landmarks of Thessaloniki
Aris Thessaloniki
Aris B.C.
Basketball venues in Greece
Buildings and structures completed in 1966
Indoor arenas in Greece
Modernist architecture in Greece
Sports venues in Thessaloniki
Volleyball venues in Greece