Alexandreion Melathron, Nick Galis Hall (since 2013) (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Αλεξάνδρειον Μέλαθρον, Σάλα Νίκος Γκάλης, από το 2013) is an indoor sports arena that is located in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. It is also often referred to as Palais des Sports (Greek: Παλαί ντε Σπορ). The arena is mainly used to host

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 (appro ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

games. The arena's main hall, called Nick Galis Hall, has a permanent seating capacity of 5,138, and a capacity of 6,000 with temporary seating, for basketball games. The arena also contains a practice court, club offices, shops, and a museum dedicated to the Aris basketball club. The arena hosts the home games of Aris Thessaloniki B.C., a member of the Greek League.

Location

The Alexandreion Melathron Nikos Galis Hall indoor arena is located in downtown Thessaloniki, inside the International Trade Fair grounds. Bus lines #2, #7, #8, #10, #14, #27, #31, and #58, running along Egnatia Avenue, stop almost in front of the arena. Ιn 2020, the new metro station, " Panepistimio", which is located near to the arena, will open.

Construction

The arena was designed by the architects P. Gianettos, M. Guyon and T. Jeanblock between 1960 and 1962. It was built in 1966. The structure shares two of the architects with the

Palais des Sports de Gerland Palais des Sports de Gerland (English: ''Gerland Sports Palace'') is an indoor arena, indoor sporting arena located in Lyon, France. The seating capacity of the arena is 5,910 people. History It was the venue of the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon t ...

in Lyon and has many similarities. The building was redeveloped and updated in 2004, in preparation for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. The updates involved reconstruction of all the building's external and internal areas. Apart from what is directly visible to everybody, other works included new electrical and mechanical updates, air-conditioning, and audiovisual facilities. New seats,

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

, and new lighting were also installed. These updates resulted in a lower permanent seating capacity (5,138 compared to the previous 6,000) for Alexandreion Arena, which reopened its gates in late 2004. The arena was again updated in 2015.

History

The arena was named after

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

, the king (

basileus ''Basileus'' () is a Greek term and title that has signified various types of monarchs throughout history. In the English language, English-speaking world, it is perhaps most widely understood to mean , referring to either a or an . The title ...

) of the

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

kingdom of

Macedon Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...

ia. It is also commonly referred to as the "''Palais des Sports''" (meaning "''Sports Palace''", in French). Under its former names, the arena was the first large indoor basketball arena built in Greece, and remained the largest until the year 1985, when the

Peace and Friendship Stadium The Peace and Friendship Stadium (), commonly known by its acronym SEF (Greek: ΣΕΦ), is a multi-purpose indoor arena that is located in Piraeus, on the coastal zone of Attica, Greece. The arena is mostly known for being the home to EuroLeague ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, was completed and opened to the public. Being part of the Thessaloniki International Fair, the arena also serves for many purposes other than sports. On May 8, 2013, at an event honoring the legendary former Aris' and the Greek National Team's player,

Nikos Galis Nikolaos Georgalis (; born July 23, 1957), commonly known as either Nikos Galis (), or Nick Galis, is a Greek-American former professional basketball player. Galis, who during his playing days was nicknamed, "Nick The Greek", "The Gangster", and ...

, the Deputy Minister of Culture of Greece,

Giannis Ioannidis Giannis Ioannidis (alternate spellings: Ioannis, Yiannis, Yannis) (Greek: Γιάννης Ιωαννίδης; 26 February 1945 – 4 October 2023) was a Greek basketball player, professional basketball coach, and Greece New Democracy (ND) politic ...

, announced that the main hall of the arena was to be renamed to "Nick Galis Hall".Ekathimerini.com Nick Galis: A night to remember.
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Ownership

The arena is owned and operated by the Greek Ministry of Culture's General Secretariat of Sports.

Gallery

References

External links

Official site, now obsolete - Archived on 2011/12/19
@ Stadia.gr {{Landmarks of Thessaloniki Aris Thessaloniki Aris B.C. Basketball venues in Greece Buildings and structures completed in 1966 Indoor arenas in Greece Modernist architecture in Greece Sports venues in Thessaloniki Volleyball venues in Greece 1966 establishments in Greece Badminton venues