Featured image credit: City of Dresden/EB Sports Facilities
The historic Heinz-Steyer-Stadion in Dresden reopened over the weekend after undergoing major redevelopment work.
A pre-opening event was held last Thursday as a five-kilometre run was held, starting from Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion and concluding at the new-look Heinz-Steyer-Stadion.
On Friday, the stadium was officially opened by Dresden Mayor Dirk Hilbert with an event featuring music, film sequences, a light show and fireworks. A ‘Golden Oval’ athletics meeting was then held on Friday night.
An opening day was held from 12pm to 6pm on Saturday, allowing locals to sample the new stadium, before an alumni meeting celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Dresden Sports School took place from 6pm onwards.
Yesterday (Sunday), American football team the Dresden Monarchs, which will serve as one of the tenants of Heinz-Steyer-Stadion, played a home game against the Allgäu Comets.
Work commenced on the redevelopment of the stadium in October 2021. The project was designed to retain the stadium’s position as one of Germany’s key athletics venues, while also adding multi-purpose values.
The stadium first opened in 1919 and has been the setting for 18 world records in athletics over the years. It was also the first home of football club Dynamo Dresden, which now plays at Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion.
The renovation of the city-owned Heinz-Steyer-Stadion was originally intended to cost around €37.3m (£31.4m/$41.3m), but this rose to more than €50m. The project was developed by ARGE BAM Sports and O+M Architeken.
The stadium now has 5,000 permanent covered seats and its capacity can be temporarily expanded up to 15,000 using mobile grandstands for major events.
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