PGE Arena Gdanks Stadium, Poland

 Extra-Velganzer, as I promise to you, related to the euphoria of EURO 2012, we are going to travel to the eight stadium that will be used to host all of the game both of in Poland and Ukraine. We already visit the National Stadium in Warsaw. So right now, we are going to visit another stadium, not in the Warsaw but still in the Poland. Yes, Its Gdanks, This city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay (of the Baltic Sea), in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the Tricity (Trójmiasto), with a population of over 800,000. Gdańsk itself has a population of 455,830 (June 2010), making it the largest city in the Pomerania region of Northern Poland.

Napoleon said Gdansk is "key to everything", something a 1,000-year history that has seen it regularly change hands attests to. The maritime city known until 1945 as Danzig has been under the rule of Poland, the Teutonic Order, Prussia and later Germany. As recently as 1939 when World War Two started with the invasion of Gdansk, it was even a city state, with its own constitution, national anthem and currency. Since 1945 it has prospered under the Polish flag.

 The amazing Gdanks has been choosen as one of the host city for extravaganza and amazing EURO 2012. PGE Arena Gdanks is the name of this stadium. You should see this one Travelganzer. The PGE Arena Gdanks Stadium named with started PGE because since 2010 the official name of the stadium the basis of a sponsorship agreement with Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE Group).

The PGE Arena Gdańsk previously called the Baltic Arena, It is used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Lechia Gdańsk. The Stadium is located on ul. Pokoleń Lechii Gdańsk ("Generations of Lechia Gdańsk street") in the northern part of the city (Letnica district). The capacity of the stands is 43,615 spectators, all seated and roofed. PGE Arena Gdańsk is the largest arena in Ekstraklasa and the third largest in the country (after National Stadium and Silesia Stadium).

This stadium broke to the ground at 2008 and then re-built in 2008-2011. The official ceremony of the opening of the stadium conducted in 14 August 2011 The opening match was between Lechia Gdańsk and Cracovia and ended with 1–1 draw. The stadium built spend construction cost for 775 Million PLN and built by RKW Rhode Kellermann Wawrowsky together with structural engineer Bollinger+Grohmann. Nowadays, this stadium owned by City of Gdańsk with the operators Lechia Gdańsk Operator. And The first international match, Poland - Germany, took place on 6 September 2011 and ended 2-2. The latter was relocated from Warsaw because the National Stadium was not ready. PGE Arena is used by Lechia Gdańsk since “White-green” relocated there form MOSiR Stadium.

 The stadium is also one of the designated venues for the finals of Euro 2012. It will host four matches during the tournament. Three matches in Group C and one quarterfinal are to be played here. This stadium is a football-specific stadium, which means that the turf is not ejected or changeable. For that reason it also lacks an athletics track (running). The stadium has dimensions 236 meters long, 203 meters wide and 45 meters height.

PGE Area’s exterior is designed to resemble amber which has long been extracted on the Baltic coast. Whole roof construction is based on 82 girders. Roof structure has totally area of 44 000 m². The facade and the roof are covered with 18 000 plates of polycarbonate multiwall sheet, in 6 shades, with a total area of 4.5 hectares. Two logos (placed on the western and eastern side of the stadium), are made in LED technology, with a height of 8 meters and length of 35 meters.

 The pitch has dimensions of 105x68 meters, and its distance from the grandstand is 10.5 m behind the goals, and 8.5 m from the side lines. PGE Arena grandstands under the standards of FIFA and UEFA are covered, the center which is hovering over the field however will be uncovered. The issue of installing a sliding roof was considered, but the idea was abandoned due to costs and limited time to complete the construction. Remaining space is reserved for the other participants of the event (staff, etc.). The stadium meets the criteria for UEFA Category 4.

Stadium capacity is 43,615 seats during league matches. However the total number of seats (gross) is approximately 44,000. During the UEFA European Football Championship in 2012 capacity will be reduced to approximately 40 000 seats. I don’t know why this would happen, but in my positive thinking maybe this should be conducted as a part to give comfortable to the supporters.

 At the stadium there are 40 boxes behind glass where full catering is provided (so-called sky-boxes). Eight of which have an area of 60 m² (646 ft²) and the remaining 32 have an area of 30 m² (323 ft²). In addition to the sky-boxes, stadium offers 1383 seats of higher standard (VIP places) for the more affluent guests. Each of them is equipped with comfortable seat and located just below the sky-boxes. Both sky-boxes and VIP places have a separate entrance with dedicated foyer.

The seats on the PGE Arena was provided by Polish company Forum Seating belonging to the Nowy Styl Group located in Krosno. Moreover the stadium has 50 extra seats for disabled persons (How great, right). As you know that the football things already become a very universal languange for all people in the world even for those who have limitation.

So what are you thinking right now, even stadium can be a greatest place to be visited. It is just about believe that there will be a great experience even in the small place, because journey, travelling, trip, walk around is not only limited in Natural Site. So let me accompany you during your travel to this PGE Gdanks Stadium.

How To Get To The PGA Arena Gedanks.

Lech Wałęsa airport is 14km west of Gdansk and has regular flights to Warsaw, Frankfurt, Munich and London, among others. Ferries run several times a week from the Nowy Port to Nynashamn, Stockholm while the PKS bus terminal has regular connections with Warsaw. The nearby Gdansk Główny train station also has daily services with the Polish capital (4.5 hours), Wroclaw (7.5 hours) and Poznan (4 hours). Gdansk is the starting point of the EuroVelo 9 cycle route which goes through the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovenia before ending at the Adriatic Sea in Pula, Croatia.

From this city you can go to another UEFA EURO 2012 venues. The distances from Gdanks to Poznan is 305km, to Warsaw about 345km, to Wroclaw about 480km, to Lviv about 725km, to Kyiv about 1,190km, to Kharkiv about 1,600km, to Donetsk about  1,810km.

For getting around the city, a regular commuter train runs from Gdansk Główny train station to Gdynia Główna and there are trams and buses to local stops.

Posted in: Poland