Thirty Three Palaces

How many more ice arenas does dictator need?

A new ice rink opened on Peramozhtsau Avenue in Minsk. In December, Lukashenka already played there. Amateur league teams of his sports club and hockey school students also train there. For the rest of the visitors, the rink is still closed, Belsat reports.

According to the Hockey Federation, except the new arena, there are 32 ice rinks in Belarus. That is, one palace accrue to 296 thousand people living in the country. For comparison: in Canada one ice arena accrue to 10.8 thousand inhabitants, in Finland – to 20.8 thousand, and in Sweden – to 27.4 thousand.

Now the majority of ice arenas are located in the Brest region. Minsk is taking second place with seven arenas. There are five ice palaces in the Minsk region, four in Mahiliou. There are three arenas both in Vitsebsk and Homel regions, two in Hrodna.

Earlier there were plans to build ice arenas also in Asipovichy, Barysau, Vaukavysk, Hlusk, Hlubokae, Homel, Drahichyn, Kalinkavichy, Kastsiukovichy, Klichau, Krychau, Lepel, Mozyr, Novalukoul, Rechytsa, Svetlahorsk, Slonim and Chausy. In total, their number should have reached 50! However, many of them turned into long-delayed construction sites and are even sold at auction because of the uselessness.

The oldest and the youngest arenas

The oldest ice arena in Belarus is the Palace of Sports, located on Peramozhtsau Avenue in Minsk. It was built in 1966. The TOP-3 of the oldest arenas also includes the Palace of Sports and Culture, which opened its doors in 1974 in Navapolatsk, and the indoor skating rink of the hockey club Youth – Minsk, which started to work in 1976.

The youngest are the ice palaces built in Horki (2012), Vorsha (2013) and the Minsk Chyzhouka – Arena, which opened in 2013 for the World Hockey Championship in 2014.

The smallest and the largest arena

Not all Belarusian ice arenas are big. For example, the ice rink in Raubichy (Minsk region), holds only 120 people. But there are real giants in Belarus. The largest ice rink is the Minsk – Arena, which can admit 15086 people. The above-mentioned Chyzhouka – Arena is in the second place and can hold 8800 people. Babruisk – Arena, which holds 7191 people, closes the top three.