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Coliseo de la Ciudad Deportiva is an indoor sporting arena located in
Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
,
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
. Built in 1957, the Coliseum is one of the most important works of Cuban Civil Engineering. It is located at the intersection of Boyeros and Vía Blanca avenues in the Cerro Municipality. The capacity of the arena is for 15,000 spectators.


Architecture

The building was designed by Nicolás Arroyo Márquez & Gabriela Menéndez García-Beltrán of the architecture firm Arroyo y Menendez Architects. Construction of the Coliseum began in November 1952. It is a 20,000 m² circular concrete building with an outside diameter of 103.2 meters and is located at the confluence of the Vía Blanca and Avenida de Rancho Boyeros. It is supported by 48 columns distributed in two concentric circles of 24 columns each. The inner circle is 62.8 meters in diameter and the outer 88.30. From this last circle, a cantilever with a span of 7.45 meters is projected on which rests a 24 cm thick prestressed concrete plate at a height of 6.65 meters above ground level. The capacity of the building is 15,000 people and one of its most notable aspects is the exit system, which is planned so that all attendees can exit rapidly. The reinforced concrete dome that covers the facility is 88 meters in diameter without any interior support is supported by a circular post-tensioned concrete beam that rests on the 24 exterior columns, with a seesaw-shaped seat that allows it to carry out the small movements of expansion and contraction due to changes in temperature. This dome was carried out by an American company and the other works were undertaken by the former Ministry of Public Works. The Coliseum serves indoor sports, it has Volleyball and Basketball courts, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Aerobic Musical Gymnastics, and other recreational activities, it has a Gym located under the stands.


Sculpture

In front of the coliseum, there is a bronze statue of a naked woman running with open arms the work entitled La Me

and is by the sculptor Fernando Boada Martín and made between 1936-1937.


1959 trials

February 16, 1959, Jesús Sosa Blanco (1907/08 - February 18, 1959) who had been a colonel in the Cuban army under Fulgencio Batista was arrested and charged by the Fidel Castro government with having committed 108 murders under the Batista regime. Sosa's televised trial took place in the Havana Coliseo de la Ciudad Deportiva before 17,000 spectators. Before his execution, he was heard to say that the trial scene was "worthy of ancient Rome".


Interest

On March 1, 2016, in honor of the ailing Fidel Castro,
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...
announced they'd be playing a free concert at the arena on March 25. It was the first open air concert by a British rock band in the country's history.


Gallery

File:Ciudad-Deportiva, Havana, Cuba-en-construccion.jpg, Ciudad Deportiva_under construction File:Ciudad-Deportiva, Havana, Cuba-en-construccion.2.jpg, Ciudad Deportiva_under construction.2 File:Ciudad-Deportiva, Havana, Cuba.jpg, Ciudad Deportiva, Havana


See also

*
Havana Plan Piloto The Havana Plan Piloto was a 1955–1958 urban proposal by Town Planning Associates, which included Paul Lester Wiener, Paul Schulz, the Catalan architect Josep Lluis Sert, and Seely Stevenson of Value & Knecht, Consulting Engineers, seeking ...
* National Theatre of Cuba * Mario Romañach *
Josep Lluís Sert Josep Lluís Sert i López (; 1 July 190215 March 1983) was a Spanish architect and city planner. Biography Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Sert showed keen interest in the works of his uncle, the painter Josep Maria Sert, and of Gaudí. He s ...
* Town Planning Associates * Jesús Sosa Blanco


Notes


References


External links


Trials Make 'roman Holiday' (1959)

1959 - Military tribunal puts Batista colonel Sosa Blanco on trial in the Havana Sports Palace of Cuba.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coliseo de la Ciudad Deportiva Indoor arenas in Cuba Buildings and structures in Havana Architecture in Havana Sports venues in Havana