Stage set for 2013 Summer Universiade Opening Ceremony at Kazan Arena Stadium

KAZAN – The installation of stage structures for the spectacular show of the 2013 Summer Universiade Opening Ceremony has been completed at the Kazan Arena Stadium which is currently nearing the final stages of construction. The successful completion of such challenging work testifies to the high capacity of Tatarstan’s builders. Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin talked about this at a business meeting on Monday, 29 April.

The stage of the Summer Universiade Opening Ceremony is unique – it has the shape of a pyramid which has a huge cauldron with the Flame of Universiade at the top. The 470-tonne metal structures for the stage were produced in Nizhnekamsk. The installation work was carried out by OOO SOPiG.

“It was an extremely difficult phase in the preparation for the Opening Ceremony. Now we will get down to the installation of the overhead equipment. In fact, we had to carry out a very complex procedure with the use of four cranes, which only highly-skilled staff can do. There are only a few companies in the world that are capable of doing this kind of work,” stated Ilsur Metshin.

“It is very nice to know that Tatarstan’s builders are among these companies. It is not enough just to lift these multi-tonne structures – they have to be accurately fitted together and fixed. Winning the right to host the Universiade is one thing, but you also need to implement all the plans. The fact that we are doing all this with our own resources testifies to the high capacity of Tatarstan’s builders, installers, designers and other professionals. Many regions which do not have such capacity would not be able to fulfill this task”, concluded the Mayor.

(Source: Kazan 2013 Media Dept.)