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Kaunas Sports Hall (Lithuanian: Kauno sporto halė), also known as the S. Darius and S. Girėnas Hall is the second largest arena of Kaunas, Lithuania. It is the first arena built in the residential Žaliakalnis neighbourhood of Kaunas specially for basketball in Europe and is referred to as a "Mecca of the Lithuanian basketball". The arena's seating capacity is 5,000. Initial seating capacity was 3,500 and the other spectators (up to 11,000) used to have standing room. Its length is 62.8 m (206 ft) and its width is 61 m (200 ft). It is a part of the S. Darius and S. Girėnas sport center, which also includes the nearby national stadium.
The construction of the hall cost 400.000 LTL and at first had 3600 seats and 7000 standing spots. It was regarded as the biggest basketball stadium in the whole world.[1][2]
According to Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, following the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940 a Lithuanian Teachers' Congress was held at the Kaunas Sports Hall with hopes that the teachers will demonstrate their solidarity with the new Soviet Government in Lithuania, however during the congress the attended teachers sang the Tautiška giesmė, the anthem of Independent Lithuania, and this way demonstrated their patriotic sentiments instead.[5]
In 1944–2010 it was the home arena of Žalgiris Kaunas.[4] In December 2005, it underwent a minor reconstruction and added some 525 additional seats to reach the current capacity of 5,000. Until the year 2009 it fit the criteria of the Euroleague relations for minimum seating requirements, but not after that when the minimum league's requirement to accommodate fans increased to 10,000.
