For the Greek and Roman sports arenas, see Palaestra

The Palestra is a historic arena and the home gym of the University of Pennsylvania Quakers men's and women's basketball teams, volleyball teams, wrestling team, and Philadelphia Big 5 men's basketball. Located at 215 South 33rd St. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, adjacent to Franklin Field in the University City section of Philadelphia, it originally opened on January 1, 1927. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1280x960, 278 KB) St. ... Pompeii palaestra seen from the top of the stadium wall. ... ARENA may refer to either: Nationalist Republican Alliance, a political party in El Salvador. ... This article is about the private Ivy League university in Philadelphia. ... Sara Giauro shoots a three-point shot, FIBA Europe Cup for Women Finals 2005. ... Volleyball is an Olympic sport in which two teams separated by a high net use their hands, arms or (rarely) other parts of their bodies to hit a ball back and forth over the net. ... Ancient Greek wrestlers (Pankratiasts) Wrestling is the act of physical engagement between two competitors competing for a physical advantage. ... For other uses of the term Big Five and its variants, see Big five (disambiguation). ... Sara Giauro shoots a three-point shot, FIBA Europe Cup for Women Finals 2005. ... Nickname: City of Brotherly Love, Philly, the Quaker City Motto: Philadelphia maneto (Let brotherly love continue) Location in Pennsylvania Coordinates: Country United States State Pennsylvania County Philadelphia Founded October 27, 1682 Incorporated October 25, 1701 Mayor John F. Street (D) Area    - City 369. ... Official language(s) English, Pennsylvania Dutch Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area  Ranked 33rd  - Total 46,055 sq mi (119,283 km²)  - Width 280 miles (455 km)  - Length 160 miles (255 km)  - % water 2. ... This article is about the private Ivy League university in Philadelphia. ... University City is a district of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

Though originally seating approximately 10,000, the Palestra's capacity in its current configuration for basketball is 8,722. The Palestra is famed for its close-to-the-court seating with the bleachers literally ending at the floor with no barrier to separate the fans from the game. It was one of the first modern steel-and-concrete arenas in the United States and also one of the first to be constructed without interior pillars blocking the view. At the time of its construction, the Palestra was one of the largest arenas in the world.

Visitors to the Palestra should note that, due to the surrounding campus construction and other development, parking is extremely scarce near the arena, limited mostly to metered street parking. Public transportation and paid parking lots are within walking distance of the Palestra.

History

The building was completed in 1927 and named by Greek professor Dr. William N. Bates after the ancient Greek term palæstra, a rectangular enclosure attached to a gymnasium where athletes would compete in various sports in front of an audience. Penn's Palestra was built adjacent and is today still connected to Hutchinson Gymnasium. 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar). ... The Greek language (Greek Ελληνικά, IPA // – Hellenic) is an Indo-European language with a documented history of some 3,000 years. ... Pompeii palaestra seen from the top of the stadium wall. ...

The first basketball game was played at the Palestra on January 1, 1927. Pennsylvania defeated Yale 26-15 before a crowd of 10,000 fans, a capacity crowd, and the largest crowd to ever attend a basketball game on the East Coast.

For many years the building shared the same management as Madison Square Garden in New York City. Teams wishing to play there were often required also to schedule a game at the Palestra, which led to Philadelphia hosting a number of very high-level sporting events that it might not otherwise have. Many professional games were played at the Palestra prior to the completion of the Spectrum in 1967. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... New York, NY redirects here. ... The Wachovia Spectrum (formerly known as the Spectrum (1967-1994), CoreStates Spectrum (1994-1998) and First Union Spectrum (1998-2003)) is an indoor arena located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

Philadelphia Portal

Liberty Bell; public domain. ...

College Basketball at the Palestra

The Palestra has hosted more regular season or post-season NCAA men's basketball games, more visiting teams, and more NCAA tournaments than any other arena in the country.. It has hosted the East regionals six times (most recently in 1980), and the sub-regionals ten times (most recently in 1984). In total, 52 NCAA Tournament games have been played at the gym since it first came to Penn's campus in 1939. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA, often pronounced N-C-Double-A or N-C-Two-A ) is a voluntary association of about 1,200 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States. ...

Today, the gym is the oldest major college arena still in use.

The Philadelphia Big 5 (Penn, Saint Joseph's, Temple, La Salle, Villanova) originally played all of its games at the Palestra. Today, the inter-city conference still plays about half of its round-robin games there. St. Joseph's hosts all of its Big 5 games at the gym (which is larger than its own arena, Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse). In the recent past, St. Joseph's has hosted games against large-drawing opponents at the Palestra. During the 2005-06 season, Ohio State and St. Joseph's played at the Palestra. For other uses of the term Big Five and its variants, see Big five (disambiguation). ... This article is about the private Ivy League university in Philadelphia. ... Saint Josephs University is a private, coeducational Roman Catholic university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. ... Temple University is a university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... La Salle University is a private, co-educational, comprehensive university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Named for St. ... Villanova University is a private university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. ... Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse is a 3,200-seat multi-purpose arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

In addition, parts or all of the 1989-95 Atlantic Ten Conference men's basketball tournaments were contested there. The Atlantic 10 Conference (A10) is a college athletic conference which operates mostly on the United States eastern seaboard. ...

The gym has also served as the site of many Philadelphia high school championship games.

Palestra 2000

In 2000, a $2 million renovation to the gym included the addition of a museum celebrating the history of Philadelphia basketball in the building's main concourse. Nearby the main entrance to the gym is a section recognizing the St. Joseph's legendary Hawk mascot who made its first appearance at the Palestra on Jan. 4, 1956. At the other end of the concourse, by the ramp to sections 211 and 210 a scoreboard lists the all-time record of the Penn-Princeton rivalry.

Each decade from the 1950's on has its own exhibit in the concourse. The 1970s section "A Decade of Prominence" celebrates the Final Four runs by Villanova (1971) and Penn (1979).

Penn playing at the Palestra Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2816x2112, 2779 KB) University of Pennsylvania Quakers Brian Grandieri (#21), Ibby Jaaber (#2), and Mark Zoller (#24) position themselves after a shot by the University of Chicago at Illinois Flames. ...

External links

• The Palestra - Penn Athletics
• Five we like, Five we want to see
• 'Nova should play at the Palestra