Estádio Municipal de Braga
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Estádio Municipal de Braga (English: Braga Municipal Stadium) is a football stadium in Braga, Portugal, with an all-seated capacity of 30,154, built in 2003 as the new home for the club Sporting Braga and as a Euro 2004 venue. Its architect was Portuguese Eduardo Souto de Moura.
It has one of the most spectacular settings of any stadium in the world, as it was carved out of a quarry (Monte Castro) that overlooks the city of Braga. The enormous earthmoving process contributed heavily to its €83.1 million cost, more than any other of the Euro 2004 new venues except for the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, which has more than twice the seating capacity of the new Braga stadium.
Unlike most major stadiums, Braga Municipal has stands only on the two sides of the field; one of the end zones is backed with the mountain's rock walls left behind from the construction process; the other zone opens to reveal the city sprawling in the distance. The two stands are covered with identical canopy-style roofs which are connected by multiple steel strings over the pitch, inspired by ancient south American Inca bridges.
The stadium was inaugurated on 30 December 2003.
[edit] Trivia
- This stadium was the home of the Minho Campus Party in 2004.
[edit] External links
- Braga stadium page on StadiumGuide.com (with photographs)
- Braga stadium design page on WorldStadiums.com (with photographs)
- afaconsultEngineering design firm of the Braga Municipal Stadium
| Main Portuguese football stadia |
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Alvalade | Aveiro | Bessa | Cidade de Coimbra | D. Afonso Henriques | Dragão | Algarve | Luz | Leiria | Municipal de Braga |
