National Stadium – Ready for 2012 Futbol! As a futboll fan who is half-Italian and half-Polish in heritage, I find this story particularly interesting.
For the last two years the Polish Government depended on Italy to prepare for Poland to host the Euro 2012 futbol championships. The stadium that will be home to the championship games was imported from Italy.
The Model
More than twelve thousand tons of steel traveled 1.3 thousand kilometers for 14 hours from near Venice, Italy to Warsaw, Poland.
About 70 per cent of the steel construction was prefabricated by Italian company Cimolai, which was also responsible for elements of the stadium for the past World Cup in Johannesburg.
In order not to chip or scratch the lacquer work on any of the elements, some 28 meters long and weighing 50 tons, the journey was made on special extra-wide trucks escorted by cars with flashing signals. The trip took place at night, so as not to wreak havoc in peak-hour Warsaw traffic, and the route was specially planned to avoid narrow streets and sharp turns.
Here is the present day shot of the stadium (they are still building out the stairs and statues.)
Looks like we very close to ready now! The Polish/Italian thing works well!
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