Zimní stadión Štvanice
| Zimní stadión Štvanice | |
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 View of the stadium from south over the Vltava | |
| Location | Prague, Czech Republic |
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Štvanice stadium was 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.
Early days
Czech national 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. On January 17, 1931, the first hockey match on the synthetic ice was played. After this, Štvanice stadium became the ice skating 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 Czechoslovak ice hockey team won the following medals at these tournaments:
- 1933 (bronze)
- 1938 (bronze)
- 1947 (gold)
- 1959 (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 became home to HC Sparta Praha, although they continued to play there occasionally when booking conflicts arose. Subsequently, the rink at Štvanice started to grow old and waste away. Only regional ice hockey and public skating kept it alive. After several years the stadium had to be closed due to poor repair. As late as 1998, civil association APeX CLUB carried out repairs and Štvanice stadium was reopened. It was open for public skating and hockey returned. In 2000 Štvanice Arena was proclaimed a national cultural monument and was protected by the state.
But it was not a happy ending. In Summer 2002, Prague was hit by catastrophic flood and a big part of the stadium was damaged. Sadly, not even the Czech Ice Hockey Association was able to help. Only thanks to APeX CLUB was it reopened in October of that year.
In 2008 the city denounce contract to tenants due to not meeting contractual obligations to care. According to the report there has been a danger of collapse of the structure. Štvanice Stadium has been definitively demolished in May 2011.[1]
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References
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