Horácká aréna

The Horácká aréna rises from a site with a long, quiet history. Before the concrete shell, there was a cemetery for the Church of St. Duš, where roughly 600 graves from the 17th to 19th centuries were unearthed during a three-month survey. The ground remembers the old Horácký zimní stadion, which stood there for nearly seventy years before being pulled down in 2023.

What stands now is defined by its exterior. The facade is clad in perforated aluminum panels, broken up by sections of red that echo the hedgehog symbol of Jihlava. Above the seating bowl, a green roof stretches out, carrying a 230-meter synthetic running track. The structure has not been without its troubles; the opening was delayed not by the concrete, but by the installation of the LED boards around the rink and the difficulty of securing ammonia for the cooling system.

Inside, the space is dominated by the cold white of the ice and the bright strip of LED advertising boards that circle the rink. The arena opened with a hockey match between HC Dukla Jihlava and HC Škoda Plzeň, but it was designed to hold more than just skates. The pitch transforms into hardwood parquet for basketball, and the capacity swells from 5,750 for ice hockey to over 7,000 for concerts. The first major musical act was Polish singer Ewa Farna, who performed on the night of the official opening in November 2025. Plans already point toward the future, with dates pencilled in for a Davis Cup qualifying round and a FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifier, though the details of those events remain on the horizon.