The 2009 Eurovision Song Contest took place at the Olympiyski Indoor Arena in downtown Moscow. The venue, which recently hosted the Russian Music Awards, has an enormous capacity and has been the home of several other prestigious events.
The venue
The Olimpiyski was built for the 1980 Summer Olympics, for which it hosted the basketball and boxing events. A part of the Olimpiyski Sports Complex, it makes up one architectural ensemble with another venue, constructed at the same time, the swimming pool.
Other events hold at the Olimpiyski Indoor Arena
The venue is enormous, and can hold up to 80,000 people. It has hosted the Davis Cup finals on several occasions, and is the home of the Kremlin Cup tournament. When smaller indoor sports are held at the venue, such as tennis or basketball, only 1/4th of the floor space is used. Capacity at this configuration can vary between 10,000 and 16,000 people. The arena also hosted the 1999 FIBA EuroStars and the 2005 Euroleague Final Four.
For the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest...
For the 54th Eurovision Song Contest, an audience of some 16,000 people was expected to attend each of the three live shows. Tickets were also made available for two of the three Dress Rehearsals for each event.
The Olimpiyski also hosted the Press Centre of the 54th Eurovision Song Contest, bringing media facilities and the stage back under one roof. Since 2007, the Press Centre and the stage area were seperated from eachother.
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Straight from YouTube
You can find loads of original Eurovision Song Contest clips, backstage materials and exclusive interviews in the MULTIMEDIA SECTION..
Moscow 2009
Get ready for Moscow 2009 with Eurovision.tv and explore the 54th Eurovision Song Contest in the MOSCOW 2009 SECTION..
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Press Centre
The Communications & PR team of the Eurovision Family of Events is there to serve the professional needs of media representatives from around the world. We kindly invite you to the online PRESS CENTRE..
