Estadio Víctor Jara is an indoor multi-use sports complex located in the western part of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, near the Estación Central and

Alameda Avenue Avenida Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins (), popularly known as La Alameda (meaning, a street bordered by poplar trees), is the main avenue of Santiago, Chile. It runs east–west in the centre of the greater urban area and is long, and it ...

. It has a total capacity for an audience of 6,500 people. After the

Chilean coup of 1973 Chilean may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Chile, a country in South America * Chilean people * Chilean Spanish * Chilean culture * Chilean cuisine * Chilean Americans See also *List of Chileans This is a list of Chileans who ar ...

, it was used as a detention centre; about 3,000 people were killed there, including singer and songwriter

Víctor Jara Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez (; 28 September 1932 – 16 September 1973) was a Chilean teacher, theatre director, theater director, poet, singer-songwriter and PCCh, Communist political activist. He developed Chilean theater by directing a bro ...

. The stadium, originally named "Chile Stadium", was renamed Victor Jara Stadium in 2003. The Stadium held many sporting events along with concerts and festivals. Estadio Chile () was designed in the rationalist style and inaugurated in 1969; its construction began in 1949 and is the work of the architect Mario Recordón Burnier, with the collaboration of the architect Jorge Patiño. It has a pulastic court where

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 ...

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer is a form of five-a-side football, five-a-side or six-a-side version of minifootball. It is derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arenas. It differs from the FIFA, FIFA ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

can be played. International

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

championships have also been held, and in the past it was used for

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

. In addition, it has a sports residence that can accommodate up to 185 athletes. The stadium features a steel truss supported roof and a rubber based playing surface, which has a polyurethane layer on top. The walls are of

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

, 30 cm (12 in) in thickness. It also has facilities to lodge athletes. Complete with dormitories, dressing rooms, a clinic, dining rooms and even a casino; Chile stadium was the first indoor sports setting developed in the country.

Concerts and festivals

In the venue, the ''Festival of the nueva canción chilena'' was held between 1969 and 1971, where in 1969,

won first place with the song "Plegaria a un labrador". In 1970 the Santa María de Iquique cantata by Luis Advis as performed by

Quilapayún Quilapayún () are a folk music group from Chile and among the longest lasting and most influential ambassadors of the ''Nueva canción, Nueva Canción Chilena'' movement and genre. Formed during the mid-1960s, the group became inseparable with t ...

was premiered. Other performances in the ''Festival of the nueva cancion chilena'' included Inti-Illimani, Angel, Isabel Parra, Payo Grondona and Patricio Manns. In 1991, a festival called Free song: Purification days at the Chile Stadium (Canto Libre: Jornadas de Purificacion el Estadio Chile) was held to commemorate the victims of the Chile Stadium. Together, approximately 800 artists including musicians, painters and poets met up and held a service. More recently in 2018–2019, a Festival of Art and Memory was held to celebrate Victor Jara's art and contributions.

Use as a detention center

After the

organized by the

Chilean Army The Chilean Army () is the land arm of the Chilean Armed Forces. This 80,000-person army (9,200 of which are conscripts) is organized into six divisions, an army aviation brigade and a special operations brigade. In recent years, and after sever ...

, who overthrew the socialist government of Salvador Allende, Victor Jara was found at the Universidad Tecnica del Estado and together with Littre Quiroga, the general director of the National Directorate of Prisons, and other detainees was held at the Estadio Chile, which was being used as a detention center. Roughly 14,000 people were held at the stadium in the early months of the coup, 3,000 being killed. Between November and July of 1974, Estadio Chile was the main detention center being used by the Pinochet Regime. Both Jara and Quiroga were tortured and killed at the Estadio Chile on 15 September 1973. Before his death, Jara wrote an untitled poem known as " Estadio Chile" and also as "Somos cinco mil"; later it would come into the hands of his wife

Joan Jara Joan Alison Turner Roberts (born Joan Alison Turner, 20 July 1927 – 12 November 2023), known as Joan Jara or Joan de Jara was a British-Chilean dancer, activist, and widow of Chilean icon, democratic socialist, actor, dramaturg, theatre direc ...

Victor Jara Stadium today

Today the stadium is owned by the Chilean government, and largely controlled by the Ministry for Sport. In 2008, the Victor Jara foundation argued to the Council of National Monuments in Chile that the sports complex should be considered a National Monument. Victor Jara Stadium provided a shelter for the homeless during the winter months in the 2000s. Recently, the stadium was used as an immigration office.

References

External links

*
Information about the stadium
{{DEFAULTSORT:Victor Jara Stadium Sports venues in Santiago, Chile Indoor arenas in Chile Music venues in Chile Internment camps in Chile Torture in Chile Basketball venues in Chile Volleyball venues in Chile 1949 establishments in Chile Sports venues completed in 1949