Twinsbet Arena turns 20: interesting records and unheard facts

On 30 October 2004, the Vilnius Twinsbet Arena opened its doors, unparalleled in the Baltics. On Wednesday, the first event space of its kind in Lithuania celebrates its 20th anniversary, so we invite you to get acquainted with 20 interesting facts from the life of the Arena.

At the beginning of the Arena’s construction, Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas, the then Prime Minister of the country, symbolically hid a capsule into the foundations of the building, with a message for future generations, and wished that the Arena would last and be needed at least for one century.

Two decades have passed since that moment, during which time the Arena’s ownership, management and name have changed, and it has had to survive the pandemic that has gripped the entertainment market. Despite the challenges, the Arena remains the largest indoor event space in Vilnius, the only private Arena in the country and one of the most modern event spaces in the Baltic region.

Discover 20 interesting facts about the Arena:

1. In 2004, Twinsbet Arena became the first multi-purpose event arena in Lithuania and Latvia. In 2005, the Jeep Basketball Arena, connected to the Arena, opened its doors. In comparison, Riga Arena opened its doors in 2006, Panevėžys Kalnapilis and Šiauliai Arenas opened in 2007, and Klaipėda Švyturys and Kaunas Žalgiris Arenas – in 2011.

2. In 20 years, the arena has hosted XXXX events and attracted over X million spectators. To attract a wider variety of events, two new space concepts were introduced in 2018: Cozy and Confer, which allowed the Arena to host smaller events.

3. The events space has changed its name twice. For the first 16 years it was called Siemens Arena (2004-2020), then for almost four years it was called Avia Solutions Group Arena, and since spring this year it has been called Twinsbet Arena.

4. The record for the longest-serving employee of the Arena belongs to Petras Poškis, who was responsible for the implementation, technical support and maintenance of events for 19 years. Petras retired in 2023, and the title of the longest-serving person currently belongs to Jolanta Velutienė, an accountant who has worked at the Arena for 17 years.

5. The wish list of performers in the events market is known as a rider, and there have been many different ones in the Arena over the past 20 years. For example, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry asked for a separate security guard to protect his guitar, Sting wanted a live tree in the dressing room, Ozzy Osbourne’s manager demanded a separate internet line in the Arena, and the Hurts wanted a dozen white roses, a non-working CCTV camera, and a wall covered in posters of famous fashion models.

6. Apart from the restrictions on the events market brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, the longest the Arena was closed was 9 months. Between August 2022 and June 2023, the Arena underwent a reconstruction period, during which €11 million was invested in renovations.

7. One of the main objectives of the Arena’s reconstruction in 2023 was to improve the acoustics. For this purpose, 4,523 square metres of acoustic panels have been installed in the main hall, which is equivalent to the area of seven basketball courts. The renovation also included upgrades to lighting, bar equipment, public areas, self-service systems, a mobile app and the BREEAM international sustainability certificate.

8. A sculpture by Tadas Gutauskas, 5.7 metres high and weighing 30 tonnes, symbolising a hand holding a basketball, stands in the square next to the main entrance. The sculpture features a list of 37 basketball players – 24 men, 8 women and 5 coaches. These people were elected in a special vote in 2007.

9. Cirque du Soleil, the world’s most famous circus, performed the most times at Twinsbet Arena, presenting 7 different shows to the capital’s audience: Saltimbanco, Alegria, Quidam, Varekai, Toruk – First Flight, Corteo and OVO. Around 130,000 people watched the 47 performances.

10. The Arena has 5 floors with a total area of 20,000 square metres; the size of 3 football pitches. The visitors enter the arena via the 2nd floor, and watch the event from the ground floor (main hall), the third floor (VIP boxes), the fourth floor (second level of the Arena) or the fifth floor (standing areas). The building is 29 metres high and there are 70 steps to climb from the second to the fourth floor.

11. For the first 18 years of the Arena’s existence, the main home basketball team was Vilnius BC Rytas. From autumn 2023, Vilnius Wolves Twinsbet will be the home team, while Rytas will play its most important domestic league games and international matches at the Arena. To honour the new home team, a Wolves Fan Zone was set up in the Arena.

12. The record for the most spectators at an event is held by the British electronic music gods, Depeche Mode. Their concert in February 2018 was attended by 13,000 people. It is worth noting that, after the reconstruction, the Arena has a capacity of up to 13.5 thousand people.

13. On the fourth floor of the Arena, visitors are amazed by the wall paintings created by G&G Sindikatas member Gabrielius Liaudanskas – Svaras and Ignas Vaicekauskas – DJ Swix. The walls of the corridors are decorated with graffiti dedicated to Lenny Kravitz, the Chemical Brothers, Cirque du Soleil and basketball player Jonas Valančiūnas.

14. The construction of Lithuania’s first multi-purpose Arena took 13 months and cost LTL 65 million at the time, while environmental management and infrastructure installation cost another LTL 15 million. The Arena was named the best Lithuanian sports building of 2004.

15. The floor of the main arena can hold about 50 tonnes of weight or 2000 cubic litres of water. With the water frozen, the 1,800 square metre ice arena has hosted ice hockey world championships on several occasions, but could also be used for swimming or windsurfing competitions.

16. The first event of the new Vilnius Arena was the World Adult Classical DanceSport Championships, held on 30 October 2004. A week later, the first basketball matches between Vilnius Lietuvos Rytas and Kaunas Žalgiris was played here.

17. The arena has 42 VIP boxes, which customers rent on a long-term basis. However, the arena used to have more boxes in the past – to mark the 2004 Olympic Games, the embassies of seven countries had their own Olympic boxes on the fifth floor of the building. The renovation has transformed the fifth floor into the Sky Lounge, a versatile and open space that can be tailored to the needs of clients or organisers.

18. The arena has fifteen bars, but after the reconstruction, additional automated tap walls have been added, where visitors can use a self-service bar. A year ago, the Arena’s app was also launched, making it possible to order food using the smartphone. The most popular snacks are fried bread and popcorn.

19. One of the most unique concerts in the arena came from rocker Jack White, who decided to keep people off their mobile phones. During the event, everyone in the audience was asked to put their phones in a lockable case that could be carried around their necks. This meant that the audience at the concert could not film or photograph and, most importantly, had to focus on the musical experience. After the concert, the cases were unlocked.

20. While the Arena’s public events attract the most attention, it is also a regular venue for a wide range of private events, corporate celebrations, and the filming of TV projects, commercials, music videos, and even motion pictures. The arena is also used for training by the Lithuanian police, army, cynologists, anti-terrorist operations team Aras and other special services.