The next time you are looking for an interesting outing with sporty-minded kids or visitors, then give some thought to visiting the House of Basketball in Mies.
Know-it-all passport® editor, Lisa Cirieco-Ohlman visited the center and told us, “After driving past this wonderful building with architecture like the net of a basketball hoop for the last 4 years, I finally realized that there is actually a museum open to the public as well. I took advantage of their weekday open hours to take my son and a friend for a tour. But think about going on a Wednesday afternoon if you find out about this after the holidays are over.”
With huge glass windows, the building not only houses the headquarters of FIBA (Fédération Internationale de Basket), but it is also home to the Naismith Arena, a 1,000m2 exhibition and event area. Don't be surprised if the doors are shut when you arrive. You will need to ring the bell to enter and sign yourself in to visit the free-of-charge exhibition.
The exhibition is dedicated to basketball lovers of all ages, but anyone from age 6 or 7 upwards will appreciate it the most. Typically, it will take visitors about an hour to complete a full tour of the exhibition, which aims to preserve and promote the cultural heritage of the sport.
Visitors will have the opportunity to see how basketball influences everyday life, including movies, music, fashion, photos, and books. The FIBA Events and Olympic Games area will also give you a taste of FIBA’s flagship competitions: the FIBA Basketball World Cup; the FIBA Women's World Championship; and the Olympic Basketball Tournaments. But it is the FIBA Hall of Fame, which will have fans from all over the world remembering with affection their favourite basketball heroes from the last century!
If you want to check your knowledge of the rules, there is a special interactive area where you can also test out your skills and have your photo taken with the World Cup trophy. If you want to find out more, there are a further 7,000 books and magazines in the Pedro Ferrandiz Library, covering just about everything you might need to know about basketball in over 20 different languages.
Lisa described her experience to us, “At the moment, the best way to visit is to have a guided tour. We were very fortunate to have Luis Gonzalez, the historical collections curator, take us around. Many items caught my eye like the old books in the extensive library and the vintage basketball games from decades ago, but the kids were more interested in the interactive games or Olympic torches. Luis indicated that an app will be available soon for those that wish to tour on their own.”
She continued, “Not only will you see the photos of James Naismith, the innovator and coach of basketball, originally using a peach basket and leather ball, but you will be able to compare yourself in height and shoe size with some of basketball’s greats. Signed jerseys and balls make up the celebrity display. Ask Luis to let you hold Yao Ming’s jersey or Shaquille O’Neil’s shoe (see photo below).”
There is a cafeteria where you can take lunch or stay for a drink on the top floor, and there are a few items to buy on your way out but plans are in the works to expand to a shop in the future. The House of Basketball is open Monday to Friday from 10h to 16h so if your kids have just gone back to school, then you will have to wait until the next holiday period before you can make a visit—unless they have Wednesday afternoon free.
Things to keep in mind: parking is strictly road parking. There is a small parking next door for other businesses or a short walk from the Mies train station where you will find more places.
Adults interested in booking a conference room are strongly recommended to make an appointment to view the unique facilities provided by the House of Basketball, by contacting houseofbasketball@fiba.com.
The House of Basketball / Maison du Basket
5, rte Suisse
1295 Mies
022 545 00 00
www.fiba.com/house-of-basketball/visit
