Globen Arena
Globen Arena – or Globus, as the Swedes themselves call it in common parlance – is an alternative symbol of modern Stockholm, its pride. The largest spherical building in Europe serves as the country’s main sports arena, the home stadium for the Swedish ice hockey team Tre Kronor, and is the venue for concerts by top stars.
Highlights
In 2009, the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson acquired the rights to call the arena by its name. Therefore, the name Ericsson Globe is also common today.
The Globen Arena is shaped like a large white ball with a diameter of 110 meters and a height of 85 meters inside the building. The arena can accommodate up to 16,000 spectators for shows and concerts and 13,850 hockey spectators. The shape of the building was not chosen by chance: the arena represents the Sun as part of the solar system project in Sweden. The real proportions of both the sizes of the planets and their distances relative to each other were respected in this project. Thus, the closest planets to the Sun are also located in Stockholm, but the distant planets are located in other cities of the country.
.Globen Arena attracts not only those who want to get to any concert or sports match, but also ordinary tourists who want to admire Stockholm from a bird’s eye view (130 meters above sea level). In 2010, the popular Skyview attraction was opened here, where visitors can take one of two glass gondolas to travel around the outside of the southern part of the building.
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Quite often the Globen Arena becomes the center of interesting architectural projects. For example, from May to October 2009, a small aluminum house (12 square meters) could be seen on the roof of the Arena. The aim of the project was to illustrate two important symbols for Sweden: high-tech construction (the Globen Arena building) and traditional, simple architecture, which the small country house embodied.
.Globen Arena is part of the Swedish Solar System project (Sweden Solar System), which symbolizes the sun. The essence of the project is as follows: spherical objects symbolizing the planets of the solar system are located throughout Sweden. Their size and distance between them are made on a scale of 1:20,000,000.
.Visitors
You can climb to the top of the Globen Arena complex on any day. SkyView is open weekends from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Monday through Friday) and 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Saturday and Sunday). The cable car ride lasts about 20 minutes, and the capsules depart six times in an hour.
.While riding in the Globen Arena, you can take photos and video for free. You’ll have to pay a premium to enter the cable car. Tickets for the SkyView ride cost no less than 145 SEK. For children and pensioners it is cheaper – 100 kroner. By the way, food and drinks, as well as large bags, “on board” can not be taken.
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But tourists on a trip to the Globen Arena complex are always offered to buy champagne (in case, for example, if you have to make a marriage proposal or celebrate an important event with a sparkling drink). But be aware that it will cost a lot: from 399 kroner per bottle. And lastly.
.If you are afraid of heights, it is better to postpone the Swedish panoramas at the bird’s eye level in a glass ball and see the Globen Arena from inside, especially since for the convenience of tourists on each level of the complex there are restaurants, cafeterias and sports bars.
.Address: Stockholm, Globentorget 2.
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