Kaunas Sports Hall ( lt, Kauno sporto halė), also known as the S. Darius and S. Girėnas Hall is the second largest arena of

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. It is the first arena built in the residential

Žaliakalnis Žaliakalnis (literally, "the green hill") is an Elderships of Lithuania, elderate in Lithuania's second largest city, Kaunas. Žaliakalnis is located north of the old town and the city center area, between the Neris and Girstupis valleys. It is on ...

neighbourhood of Kaunas specially for basketball in Europe and is referred to as a "''

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...

'' of the Lithuanian basketball". The arena's

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

is 5,000. Initial seating capacity was 3,500 and the other spectators (up to 11,000) used to have standing room. Its length is and its width is . It is a part of the S. Darius and S. Girėnas sport center, which also includes the nearby

national stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

. The arena generally hosts

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

games and concerts. It has served as the home court for '' Žalgiris'' basketball club, competing in the Euroleague and the LKL League till the middle of 2011. It was also used by the

Granitas Kaunas Granitas Kaunas is a team handball club from Kaunas, Lithuania. Currently, Granitas Kaunas competes in the Lithuanian First League of Handball. Kaunas Granitas is the most successful team in Lithuania Handball history. It is the only team from Li ...

team handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

club.

History

The construction of the hall cost 400.000 LTL and at first had 3600 seats and 7000 standing spots. It was regarded as the biggest basketball stadium in the whole world. Since its establishment, the Kaunas Sports Hall is situated in close proximity to the Lithuanian Academy of Physical Education and the S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium, adjacent to the

Ąžuolynas Ąžuolynas (literally, "Oak Grove") is a public park in Lithuania's second largest city, Kaunas, in the Žaliakalnis elderate. The park covers about 84 hectares and is the largest urban stand of mature oaks in Europe. Vydūnas Alley serves as ...

Park. The arena was completed before the 3rd European Basketball Championship in 1939. The foundation was laid in December 1938. All the steel constructions were finished by April 1939 and masonry work on May 10 of the same year. In December 2005, it underwent a minor reconstruction and added some 525 additional seats to reach the current capacity of 5,000. Until the year 2009 it fit the criteria of the Euroleague relations for minimum seating requirements, but not after that when the minimum league's requirement to accommodate fans increased to 10,000. In August 2011 a larger and much more modern

Žalgiris Arena Žalgiris Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New Town of Kaunas, Lithuania. The arena is located on an island of the Nemunas River. It is the largest indoor arena in the Baltics. The arena's maximum possible seating capacity for basketba ...

has been opened in Kaunas, as Lithuania was hosting the 37th European Basketball Championship. The Kaunas Sports Hall will long be remembered as the arena where the

Lithuanian national basketball team The Lithuania men's national basketball team ( lt, Lietuvos nacionalinė vyrų krepšinio rinktinė) represents Lithuania in international basketball competitions. They are controlled by the Lithuanian Basketball Federation, the governing body ...

won their consecutive

Gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

at the

Eurobasket 1939 The 1939 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1939, was the third FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA. Eight national teams affiliated with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) took par ...

. The Kaunas Sports Hall was included into the Registry of Immovable Cultural Heritage Sites of the Republic of Lithuania in 1993.The Registry of Immovable Cultural Heritage Sites: Unique object code: 15971
Retrieved on 14 October 2011. Most of the 2015 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship games were held in the hall in 2015 (including the finals). Sporto hale 2007-05-19

References

{{Authority control Indoor arenas in Lithuania Basketball venues in Lithuania Sport in Kaunas

Sports hall The following is a list of indoor arenas. Africa Asia Europe North America Canada United States Oceania South America See also *Arena *Stadium *Sport venue *Lists of stadiums *List of buildings *List of music venu ...

Buildings and structures completed in 1939 Objects listed in Lithuanian Registry of Cultural Property