Štvanice stadium was a sports stadium situated on Štvanice Island, Czech Republic, and was ranked among the oldest stadiums in Prague. The stadium was in its heyday in the first half of the 20th century, but has been in decline since 1961. It was here, where in 1947 the Czechoslovak national team won the

Ice Hockey World Championship The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), first officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the E ...

for the first time.

Early days

Czech national ice hockey teams at first had to win five European titles, before players finally saw their first stadium with artificial ice rink. The stadium was built in the early 1930s and was entirely made of

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

. On 17 January 1931, the first hockey match on the synthetic

ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

was played. After this, Štvanice stadium became the

Ice skating Ice skating is the Human-powered transport, self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. ...

centre of Prague for 30 years and countless numbers of hockey-players and figure skaters were brought up there. The Štvanice stadium hosted four

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), first officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the I ...

. The Czechoslovak ice hockey team won a medal on each occasion: *

1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...

(bronze) *

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

(bronze) *

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

(gold) *

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

(bronze). The next important date for the Stadium was 11 February 1955. The first televised hockey match was broadcast on this day.

Decline of Štvanice Arena

In 1961 a new arena at the

fairground Fairground most typically refers to a permanent space that hosts fairs. Fairground, Fairgrounds, Fair Ground or Fair Grounds may also refer to: Places Canada * Fairground, Ontario, a community United States * Fairground, St. Louis, a neighbo ...

became home to

HC Sparta Prague HC, hc or H/C may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Medicine * Health Canada * Hemicrania continua * Hyperelastosis cutis or hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia Chemistry * Hemocyanin, a metalloprotein abbreviated Hc ...

, although they continued to play there occasionally when booking conflicts arose. Subsequently, the rink at Štvanice started to grow old and waste away, and the stadium was only used by regional ice hockey clubs and for public skating. After several years the stadium had to be closed due to poor repair. In 2000 Štvanice Arena was proclaimed a national cultural monument and was protected by the state. In the

2002 European floods In August 2002, a week of intense rainfall produced flooding across a large portion of Europe. It reached the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine and Russia. The event killed 2 ...

, a big part of the stadium was damaged. It was reopened in October 2002. In 2008 the city denounced the contract to tenants due to not meeting contractual obligations to care. According to the report there was the danger of a structural collapse. Štvanice Stadium was finally demolished in May 2011.Na Štvanici přijely bagry, začala demolice slavného zimního stadionu
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References

External links

*
Official website of Štvanice Stadium (in Czech)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stvanice Stadium Sports venues completed in 1930 Ice hockey venues in the Czech Republic Sports venues in Prague Sports venues demolished in 2011 Demolished buildings and structures in the Czech Republic 1930 establishments in Czechoslovakia 2011 disestablishments in the Czech Republic 20th-century architecture in the Czech Republic