Istora Gelora Bung Karno

Gelora Bung Karno Sports Palace (Indonesian: Istana Olahraga Gelora Bung Karno, abbreviated as Istora), (formerly named Istora Senayan between 1969 and 2001) is an indoor arena located in Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex, Jakarta, Indonesia. 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 (1982 - 2024) 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 and was renovated to host the 2018 edition. Its first post-renovation event was the 2018 Indonesia Masters. During the latter Games, it hosted the badminton and later stages of basketball events.
The arena originally was planned to stage the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup 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 instead.
As an architect and civil engineering graduate, Sukarno proposed a sports center location near M. H. Thamrin Boulevard and Menteng (Karet, Pejompongan, or Dukuh Atas) for the 1962 Asian Games. 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 policy by military junta government under Suharto, 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 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 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 bleachers. 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.
Other venues in the complex
Other concert venues in Greater Jakarta
Media related to Istora Gelora Bung Karno at Wikimedia Commons