The venue for the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, the Saku Suurhall, is nearly finished. The hall showed itself to the world today.

The new venue will have approximately 10000 seats and standing places. The ESC will be configured to seat 6000 people, 3000 seats will be on public sale from December. ETV is allowed to book half of the seats for delegations, sponsors and journalists.

The hall is so named since the main sponsor of the hall is the Estonian Saku Brewery, who wished to have their name associated with a major Estonian project. The concept is familiair, as Heineken opened the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam last year.

The plan for the hall is to be available for activities such as concerts, exhibitions and sports events. The location is unique for the Baltic States, because it is located just fifteen minutes from downtown Tallinn, on the sea front at Rocca al Mare (one of the most fast developing new parts of Tallinn).

Eurovision is not the only event that will be held in the Saku Suurhall. The hall is also booked by the International Karate Union for the European Karate Championship. Concerts are then booked in by Yes, Roxette and Rammstein.

Special thanks to ESCOL