Warsaw’s authorities have outlined plans for a new 22,000-capacity arena for sports and entertainment events.

Poland’s capital city, currently, does not have a large indoor venue and is now looking to progress plans for a €350m project.

The arena is slated to be built on a site next to the National Stadium, PGE Narodowy, on the east bank of the River Vistula. The plot must first be transferred from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage to the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, which is set to happen in July.

It is estimated that all the relevant permits can be obtained within the next two years with construction taking another three years.

Renata Kaznowska, the City of Warsaw’s vice-president, told local reporters that the project is essential for Warsaw, claiming it is the only capital city in Europe to not have a large indoor venue.

“I am aware that Warsaw, and also Poland, miss many events; many international entities would like to organise events in our capital but have nowhere to do so,” said Kaznowska. “That is why Warsaw simply needs this hall.”

“I am aware that Warsaw, and also Poland, miss many events… Warsaw simply needs this hall”

The project is most likely to be funded by either a public-private partnership or a special purpose vehicle (SPV) created by the State Treasury, said Minister Nitras, adding that a draft bill concerning finance has already been prepared.

Nitras told newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza: “The hall, similar to the National Stadium, would have a ‘national character’ and become an arena for the most important events in the country. Its construction is, therefore, important not just for the city but for the entire country.

“In Poland, only the Tauron Arena in Kraków is close to the standard [that we want]… The organisation [of the most important events] in the capital would also have an impact on the popularisation of Poland as a tourist destination, attracting fans from all over the world to Warsaw.”

Although work is underway on building a 6,000-seater sports hall in the city’s SKRA complex, currently the only viable indoor venue in Warsaw is the outdated 4,800-capacity Torwar.

The country’s existing arenas that host live music include Arena Gliwice, TAURON Arena Kraków, Ergo Arena in Gdańsk, Spodek Arena in Kraków and Atlas Arena in Łódź.

Read more about Poland’s arena market in the recently published Global Arena Guide 2024.

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The Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow is a festival of light. The 30th edition of the festival is dedicated to fire, the life-bringing element. It is the fire of life, the fire of love, the fire of passion that, year after year, brings over 30,000 visitors from all over the globe to Krakow, Poland.

Not many know that Krakow – specifically Kazimierz, its Jewish quarter – used to be one of the biggest Jewish cities in the world. A flourishing cultural hotspot where Yiddish was spoken and was home to artists, thinkers, authors, singers, writers and thousands of other souls.

During the war, it was home to a ghetto and a death camp – but also Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory. Yes, this is where the action in Spielberg’s Schindler’s List takes place. After the war, there was nothing – not much left but stones. A beautiful mediaeval city lost its Jewish population. During the Soviet occupation, under communist rule, more than 40 years of silence, lies and denial of its heritage and the Jewish presence.

But wonders do happen. Years later, Krakow is the astonishing venue for what is now the biggest Jewish cultural estival in Europe. Janusz Makuch, a self-proclaimed “meshuggener” who is the festival’s founder and its highly energetic power source, breathed life into abandoned stones of Kazimierz. Every year a team of “machers” and hundreds of Jewish artists from all over the world organise some 300 events, workshops, lectures and concerts, ending with the luminous culmination of Shalom on Szeroka Street.

This year is a special one. A year of joy, a jubilee 75th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation

Diversity is the festival’s very essence. After an evening-filling cross-genre programme with brilliant performances by artists that couldn’t be more different – from Gili Yalo’s Ethiopian funky tunes to Piyut Ensemble’s sacred Moroccan chants – rabbis light candles in front of a cheerful crowd of thousands. Celebrating love, peace, unity and having fun. Such a mind-blowing, emotional moment.

This year is a special one. A year of joy, a jubilee 75th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation (the Nazi death camp was located south-west of Krakow). A year of plague, with the Covid-19 pandemic bringing all the cultural life worldwide to a hold. How do the machers cope with that?

They proclaimed the longest Jewish Culture Festival of all time, starting on 26 June and will ending on 18 December. Six months of programming livestreamed on the festival’s website, Facebook and YouTube will bring the festival to everybody’s homes, since so many cannot come to Krakow this summer. So join us, and let’s have fun together!

The Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow is a festival of life. To life! L’chaim!

Michael Ginzburg is head of Universal Music Live in Russia and the CIS.