The Poliedro de Caracas ("Caracas Polyhedron

Polyhedron

In elementary geometry a polyhedron is a geometric solid in three dimensions with flat faces and straight edges...

 Arena") is an indoor sports arena, located on the grounds adjacent to Hipodromo La Rinconada

Hipódromo La Rinconada

La Rinconada Hippodrome is a race track for Thoroughbred horse racing that opened on July 5, 1959 in Coche, a neighborhood of south Caracas, Venezuela.Some of the important races held here annually include:...

, in Caracas

Caracas

Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...

, Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

. It was designed by architect Thomas C. Howard of Synergetics, Inc, in Raleigh, NCin 1971. However, the Geodesic Dome was not concluded, until 1974, when US firm Charter Industries with Synergetics, Inc designed and manufactured the geodesic dome in Raleigh, NC.
It is housed beneath a geodesic dome

Geodesic dome

A geodesic dome is a spherical or partial-spherical shell structure or lattice shell based on a network of great circles on the surface of a sphere. The geodesics intersect to form triangular elements that have local triangular rigidity and also distribute the stress across the structure. When...

 with a seating capacity of 13,000 and is used for concerts, sporting events such as basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, ice skating

Ice skating

Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and...

 shows, circus

Circus

A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...

es, and trade expositions like Autoshows, expomuebles (furniture). Lately, it has also been used for government-sponsored political events.

It was finished in 1974 and officially inaugurated with the fight between George Foreman

George Foreman

George Edward Foreman is an American two-time former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Olympic gold medalist, ordained Baptist minister, author and successful entrepreneur...

 and Ken Norton

Ken Norton

Kenneth Howard Norton Sr. is a former heavyweight boxer. He is best known for his 12-round victory over a peak Muhammad Ali where he famously broke Ali's jaw, on March 31, 1973, becoming only the second man to defeat Ali as a professional .He and Ali...

 on March 26, 1974. It also served as the stage for many local acts like Melissa, Yordano and Ilan Chester, among others and international acts that visited Venezuela.

One of the main events that has taken place each year in El Poliedro (up to 2009), is the Miss Venezuela

Miss Venezuela

The Miss Venezuela contest is the national beauty pageant of Venezuela and has been held since 1952. It is responsible for selecting the country's representatives to the Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss Earth and Miss International pageants .Under the direction of Osmel Sousa, Venezuela has...

 beauty pageant.