Gelora Bung Karno Sports Palace (, abbreviated as ''Istora''), (formerly named ''Istora Senayan'' between 1969 and 2001) is an

indoor arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

located in

Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex The Bung Karno Sports Complex (), better known as Gelora Bung Karno; formerly named the Asian Games Complex ( and the Senayan Sports Complex () from 1969 to 2001, is a sports complex located in Gelora, Tanah Abang, Gelora, Central Jakarta, border ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. The capacity of the arena after 2018 reopening is 7,166. This arena is usually used for badminton tournaments, especially the BWF tournaments Indonesia Open since 1982 and Indonesia Masters since 2018, as well as the Indonesia men's national basketball team. The first event that held in this arena was the 1961 Thomas Cup. It was also used during the

1962 Asian Games The 1962 Asian Games () also known as the 4th Asian Games, IV Asiad, and Jakarta 1962, were the fourth edition of pan-Asian multi-sport event sanctioned by the Asian Games Federation (AGF). The games were held from 24 August to 4 September 1962, ...

and was renovated to host the

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

edition. Its first post-renovation event was the

2018 Indonesia Masters The 2018 Indonesia Masters, officially the Daihatsu Indonesia Masters 2018, was a badminton tournament which took place at Istora Gelora Bung Karno in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 23 to 28 January 2018 and had a total prize of US$350,000. Tournamen ...

. During the latter Games, it hosted the

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

and later stages of

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

events. The arena originally was planned to stage the

2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 19th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams, held from 25 August to 10 September 2023. The tournament was the second to feature 32 teams and was hosted by multipl ...

and becoming the only Indonesian venue in the three-country joint bid but was moved to a newly-built arena inside the complex. It hosted the

2022 FIBA Asia Cup The 2022 FIBA Asia Cup was the 30th edition of the FIBA Asia Cup, the continental basketball championship in Asia. The tournament was organised by FIBA Asia. Originally intended to be the 2021 edition, the tournament was initially scheduled to t ...

instead.

History

As an architect and civil engineering graduate,

Sukarno Sukarno (6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of the Indonesian struggle for independenc ...

proposed a sports center location near M. H. Thamrin Boulevard and

Menteng Menteng is a district () in the administrative city of Central Jakarta, Indonesia. Menteng is surrounded by the districts of Senen and Matraman to the east, Tebet and Setiabudi to the south, Tanah Abang to the west, and Gambir to the north. ...

( Karet,

Pejompongan Pejompongan is a residential area located northeast of Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex The Bung Karno Sports Complex (), better known as Gelora Bung Karno; formerly named the Asian Games Complex ( and the Senayan Sports Complex () from 1969 to ...

, or Dukuh Atas) for the

. Then he was accompanied by Friedrich Silaban to review the location of the proposed sports complex by helicopter. Silaban disagreed with the selection of Dukuh Atas because he argued the construction of a sports complex in the center the future downtown area will potentially create a massive traffic congestion. Sukarno agreed Silaban recommendation and instead assigned the project to the Senayan area with an area of approximately 300 hectares. The sports complex construction began on 8 February 1960, Istora construction finished on 21 May 1961, in time to host the 1961 Thomas Cup that held in June of that year. During the New Order era, due to the

de-Sukarnoization De-Sukarnoization, also spelled de-Soekarnoization, was a policy that existed in Indonesia from the transition to the New Order in 1966 up to the beginning of the Post-Suharto era in Indonesia, Reformation era in 1998, in which some of Sukarno's ...

policy by

military junta A military junta () is a system of government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''Junta (governing body), junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the Junta (Peninsular War), national and local junta organized by t ...

government under

Suharto Suharto (8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian Officer (armed forces), military officer and politician, and dictator, who was the second and longest serving president of Indonesia, serving from 1967 to 1998. His 32 years rule, cha ...

, the complex was renamed to Gelora Senayan Sports Complex and the Istora was also renamed to Istora Senayan in 1969. However, the name of the sports complex (and the Istora) was reverted by Indonesian president at the time

Abdurrahman Wahid Abdurrahman Wahid ( ; né ad-Dakhil, 7 September 1940 – 30 December 2009), more colloquially known as Gus Dur (), was an Indonesian politician and Islam in Indonesia, Islamic Kyai, religious leader who served as the fourth president of Indone ...

since 17 January 2001. although the Istora Senayan name is still used informally. Istora had a U-shaped indoor lobby attached on its front since some time after the 1960s to 2016. The court and tribune were surrounded by multi-functional rooms. Those were demolished during the subsequent renovation. The rooms are incorporated underneath the tribune, leaving no other buildings attached to it. The 2016 - 18 renovation of Istora for the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games (), and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, were a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 August to 2 September 201 ...

cost Rp132 billion (around US$10 million with the exchange rate at the time), reducing the capacity from 9,500 to around 7,000 spectators. During the latest renovation, there were already some delft blue single seats installed on the mid-section of west and east tribune along with yellow (4 corners) and green (mid-section of north and south tribune) wooden

bleacher Bleachers (North American English), or stands, are raised, tiered rows of benches found at sports-fields and at other spectator events. Stairways provide access to the horizontal rows of seats, often with every other step enabling access to a ...

s. Those were scrapped and replaced by single seats, consist of 3 shades of grey. However, to preserve the memory of the old Istora, there are five rows of seat using new all-brown wooden bleachers, placed near Gate 1.

Entertainment events

1961–1999

2000–2009

2010–2019

2020–present

Cancelled entertainment events

Notable international sporting events

Badminton: * Indonesia Open (since 1982) * Indonesia Masters (Since 2018) *

Thomas Cup The Thomas Cup, sometimes referred as World Men's Team Championships, is an international badminton competition among teams representing member nations of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), the sport's global governing body. The championships h ...

(

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

and

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

) * Uber Cup (

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

) *Thomas & Uber Cup ( 1986,

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

) *

Sudirman Cup The Sudirman Cup is an international badminton mixed team competition contested by member countries of the Badminton World Federation, the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every two years since the inaugural tourn ...

(

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

) * 2015 BWF World Championships *

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

and 1989 IBF World Championships * 1992 IBF World Junior Championships Multi Events: *

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

and

2018 Asian Para Games The 2018 Asian Para Games (, ''Asian Para Games 2018''), officially known as the 3rd Asian Para Games and also known as Indonesia 2018, was a pan-Asian multi-sport event that held from 6 to 13 October 2018 in Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta ...

Wushu: * 2015 World Wushu Championships Basketball: *

Gallery

File:Friedrich Silaban.jpg, Friedrich Silaban, architect of the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex including the Istora. File:NasutionSuharto1967.jpg, General Nasution, chair of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly (MPRS) congratulating General

on his inauguration as

Acting President An acting president is a person who temporarily fills the role of a country's president when the incumbent president is unavailable (such as by illness or visiting abroad) or when the post is vacant (such as for death Death is the en ...

on 12 March 1967 at the Istora. File:Istora senayan2.jpg, Istora in January 2008 File:Istora GBK.jpg, The front lobby of Istora; it was demolished during 2016–18 renovation File:Istora JKT48 Beginner HSF.png, Istora in March 2016 File:Istora Senayan Interior January 2018.jpg, Interior of Istora during the

References

Notes

External links

Profile on GBK Sports Complex official website
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816194616/http://gbk.id/istora/ , date=2018-08-16 Indoor arenas in Indonesia Basketball venues in Indonesia Boxing venues in Indonesia Gymnastics venues in Indonesia Volleyball venues in Indonesia Music venues in Indonesia 1961 establishments in Indonesia Sports venues in Jakarta Badminton venues in Jakarta Basketball venues in Jakarta Boxing venues in Jakarta Gymnastics venues in Jakarta Volleyball venues in Jakarta Badminton in Indonesia Venues of the 1962 Asian Games Venues of the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games badminton venues Asian Games table tennis venues Sports venues completed in 1961 Works by Friedrich Silaban Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex