History
In 1949 the decision was made to build the Silesia Stadium in 1950 and Julian Brzuchowski was chosen as its designer. Silesia Stadium was completed in 1956, together with the 10th Anniversary Stadium (Polish: Stadion Dziesięciolecia) in Warsaw. On 22 July 1956, it hosted its first event - a friendly game with the East Germany national football team (2:0 for the Germans). Electric lighting was installed in 1959.
Initially designed to hold 87,000 people, it was often filled by crowds ranging between 90,000 and 100,000. On 18 September 1963, it held a record number of spectators (120,000) during a European Cup match between Górnik Zabrze and FK Austria Wien. However, the enforcement of international security standards forced the stadium's authorities to reduce its number of seats.
In 1993, the stadium was designated as the official home stadium of the Polish national football team. In the 1990s, the stadium was converted to an all-seater stadium, reducing the capacity to 47,246. Currently, there are plans to expand its capacity to 55,211 and to construct a roof over the stadium (claimed to become one of the largest in the world, 43,000 m2). The stadium will be expanded by tearing off a portion of the west stand to make room for the 2nd tier. Before the expansion, only the east stand had a 2nd tier.
Read more about this topic: Silesian Stadium
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Perhaps universal history is the history of the diverse intonation of some metaphors.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)
“Those who weep for the happy periods which they encounter in history acknowledge what they want; not the alleviation but the silencing of misery.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Both place and time were changed, and I dwelt nearer to those parts of the universe and to those eras in history which had most attracted me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)