The Juan Antonio Samaranch Olympic Hall ( Bosnian, Croatian and

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

: ''Olimpijska dvorana Juan Antonio Samaranch'' / Олимпијска дворана Хуан Антонио Самаран; formerly Zetra Olympic Hall) is an indoor multi-purpose arena in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

. Named in honor of

Juan Antonio Samaranch Juan Antonio Samaranch y Torelló, 1st Marquess of Samaranch ( Catalan: ''Joan Antoni Samaranch i Torelló'', ; 17 July 1920 – 21 April 2010) was a Spanish sports administrator under the Franco regime (1973–1977) who served as the seventh ...

in 2010 after his death, it was used for various sporting events at the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian language, Serbo-Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Serbian Cyrillic: ; ) and commonly known as Sarajevo '84 (Serbian Cy ...

, and as the main venue of the 2019 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival.

History

The building of the complex started in June 1981 and was officially opened by then-

President of the International Olympic Committee The president of the International Olympic Committee is head of the executive board that assumes the general overall responsibility for the administration of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the management of its affairs. The IOC E ...

, on February 14, 1982.

Olympic venue

Zetra Olympic Hall was constructed specifically for the 1984 Winter Olympics, hosted in Sarajevo, and was completed in 1982. Its first major event was the 1983

World Junior Speed Skating Championships In 1971, the International Skating Union, ISU congress decided to hold a World Junior Speed Skating Championships. After two test-championships (1972 and 1973), where only a boys' competition was held in the 1972 edition, the first official cham ...

. It was described as an "ultramodern, angular edifice""Now Bring On The Torch"
Bob Ottum, ''Sports Illustrated,'' March 14, 1983 with a

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

roof. The indoor venue hosted

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

and

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympi ...

events, as well as the last closing ceremony held in an indoor place until

Vancouver 2010 The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

. From 1984 to 1991, Zetra remained in service as a venue for ice sports. It served as the venue for several international speed skating events, and several speed skating world records were broken here.

Destruction

The arena suffered substantial damage from shelling, bombing and fire by the Serb forces on Monday, May 25, 1992 during the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

. The interior of the structure, such as the basements and main hall, were put into service as a

morgue A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cu ...

,"Zetra returns to the future"
David Taylor, ''SFOR Informer'' #57, March 17, 1999
Bonnie DeSimone, ''New York Times,'' February 5, 2006 storage space for medication and supplies, and a staging area for UN equipment.
''Sports Illustrated,'' April 9, 1999 The wooden seats from the venue were used as material for

coffin A coffin or casket is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, for burial, entombment or cremation. Coffins are sometimes referred to as caskets, particularly in American English. A distinction is commonly drawn between "coffins" a ...

s for civilians killed in the war.

Reconstruction

After the war, it was discovered that though the building was badly damaged, the foundation was secure. Although the original blueprints were never recovered, in September 1997, reconstruction on the venue, facilitated by the

SFOR The Stabilisation Force (SFOR) was a NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina after the Bosnian War. Although SFOR was led by NATO, several non-NATO countries contributed troops. It was replaced by EUFOR Alt ...

, began. The

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

donated $US 11.5 million to the project, which cost an estimated DM 32 million (

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

16.4 million). The reconstruction was completed in 1999.

Current use

Zetra hosted the Balkans Stability Pact Summit in July 1999. It is currently in service as a sporting arena. It is also used for music concerts, fairs and conferences. Sometimes, parts of the building are rented for other purposes (e.g. for the elections 2014, it was used as the Main Counting Center and election material storage space). The hall also contains a small museum about the 1984 Winter Olympics as well as a gym, billiard hall, bowling alley, pistol range, two cafes and other sports related content such as headquarters for various clubs and associations.

Concerts and other events

References

External links

World Stadiums
{{Olympic venues in ice hockey Venues of the 1984 Winter Olympics Indoor arenas in Bosnia and Herzegovina Ice hockey venues in Bosnia and Herzegovina Sports venues in Sarajevo Grad Sarajevo Olympic figure skating venues Olympic ice hockey venues Olympic stadiums Basketball venues in Bosnia and Herzegovina Handball venues in Bosnia and Herzegovina KK Bosna Royal Sports venues completed in 1982 1982 establishments in Bosnia and Herzegovina Yugoslav Bosnian and Herzegovinian architecture