Sporto rūmai | |
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 Interactive map of Vilnius Palace of Concerts and Sports | |
| Full name | Vilnius Palace of Concerts and Sports |
|---|---|
| Location | Vilnius,Lithuania |
| Coordinates | 54°41′27″N25°17′28″E / 54.69083°N 25.29111°E /54.69083; 25.29111 |
| Capacity | 4,400 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1971 |
| Closed | 2004 |
Vilnius Palace of Concerts and Sports (Lithuanian:Sporto rūmai) is an indoorarena inVilnius,Lithuania. The venue was opened in 1971. It was deemed unsafe and closed in 2004. Plans to reconstruct the venue received significant opposition from the Jewish community as the site is located on the grounds of the oldestJewish cemetery in Vilnius.
The arena was capable of holding 4,400 spectators. It was primarily used forvolleyball andbasketball. In October 1988, the arena was the site of the Inaugural Congress ofSąjūdis, the Reform movement which led Lithuania inachieving independence from the Soviet Union. It was also the site of the public funeral of 13 Lithuanians killed by Soviet troops at theVilnius Television Tower during theJanuary Events of 1991.
The arena hosted1975 World Women's Handball Championship and1986 FIBA World Championship for Women.[1]
The arena is emblematic of Communist Modernism. It is one of the few remaining sports arenas in this architectural style. Two other examples are theHala Olivia inGdańsk, Poland, and the now destroyedVolgar Sports Palace inTolyatti, Russia.[2]
The venue is located on the site of the Piramónt cemetery, the oldestJewish cemetery in Vilnius, which dates back to the late fifteenth century, when Vilnius was the capital of theGrand Duchy of Lithuania.[3]Russian authorities closed the cemetery in 1831. TheSoviet authorities destroyed the cemetery in 1949–1950 during the construction ofŽalgiris Stadium.
In August 2015, Lithuania's Chief RabbiChaim Burshtein was dismissed by theLithuanian Jews after he made a public statement opposing the conversion of the arena into a convention center.[4] In 2016–2017, a petition opposing the convention center received 38,000 signatures, many from descendants of Lithuanian Jews now living in other countries.[5]
News plans for transforming the Palace of Concerts and Sports into a modern convention center were announced in December 2019. The plans were discussed and approved by the Lithuanian Jewish community and by the London-based Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe. However, more than 50,000 signatures have been collected against the plan and a descendant of people buried in the cemetery sued the owners of the venue at the Vilnius District Court to halt the works. The plaintiff was later joined by more than a hundred others.[6]
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