#52: Take Me to Your Leader

No, it’s not aliens, but it sure does look that way! I’d do a double-take and turn around if I didn’t know for sure this was Gazprom Arena, a stadium located in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was built in 2017 for the 2018 FIFA World Cup between Russia and Finland. It has a retractable ceiling and a capacity of 80,000!

It cost $660 million and took eight years to build. Russia sure was betting hard on their ability to make it to the FIFA championships and wanted the right stadium for the occasion. It was designed by Kisho Kurokawa, the same architect that designed the Nakagin Capsule Towers above. However, he died before construction began a year later.