Estadio Luna Park (commonly known as Luna Park) is a multi-purpose arena in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. Located at the corner of

Avenida Corrientes Avenida Corrientes () is one of the principal thoroughfares of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires. The street is intimately tied to the tango and the porteño sense of identity. Like the parallel avenues Santa Fe, Córdoba, and San Juan, it ...

and Avenida Bouchard; in the San Nicolás neighborhood. Initially, the arena primarily hosted

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

and other sporting events. In the 1950s, it was expanded to host stage shows and concerts. The stadium has hosted countless internationally famous personalities, including

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, several

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

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 ...

matches, world championship and important non-championship boxing fights involving

Nicolino Locche Nicolino Locche (September 2, 1939 – September 7, 2005) was an Argentine boxer from Tunuyán, Mendoza who held the World Junior Welterweight title from 1968 to 1972. Locche is often cited as one of the finest defensive boxers of all time an ...

Hugo Corro Hugo Pastor Corro (November 5, 1953 – June 15, 2007), better known plainly as Hugo Corro, was an Argentine former professional boxer who held the undisputed middleweight championship between April 1978 and June 1979. Corro beat Rodrigo Valdez ...

Santos Laciar Santos Benigno Laciar (born January 31, 1959), known familiarly as Santos Laciar and nicknamed Falucho, is an Argentine who was boxing's world flyweight and super flyweight champion. Biography Laciar was born in Huinca Renancó, in the province ...

Carlos Monzón Carlos Roque Monzón (7 August 1942 – 8 January 1995), nicknamed Escopeta (''Shotgun'' in Spanish), was an Argentine professional boxer who held the undisputed world middleweight championship for 7 years. He successfully defended his title 14 t ...

, Omar Narvaez,

Juan Roldán Juan Domingo Roldán (6 March 1957 – 18 November 2020) was an Argentine professional boxer, best remembered for his strong showing in the early rounds of an undisputed world championship bout against Marvelous Marvin Hagler. After flooring Hag ...

Julio César Vásquez Julio César Vásquez (born July 13, 1965) is an Argentine retired professional boxing, boxer best known to have held a World Boxing Association, WBA junior middleweight title. Amateur record Vasquez had an amateur record of 33-2. Professional ...

and many other famous boxers, circuses, the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...

Holiday on Ice Holiday on Ice is an ice show currently owned by Medusa Music Group GmbH, a subsidiary of CTS EVENTIM, Europe's largest ticket distributor, with its headquarters in Bremen, Germany. History Holiday on Ice originated in the United States in Decem ...

and many more. The arena also hosted the

1950 FIBA World Championship The 1950 FIBA World Championship, also called the 1st World Basketball Championship – 1950, was an international basketball tournament held by the International Basketball Federation in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 22 October to 3 November ...

, the final phase of the

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

Basketball World Championship The FIBA Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA World Cup of Basketball or simply the FIBA World Cup, between 1950 and 2010 known as the FIBA World Championship, is an international basketball competition contested by the senior men's nat ...

and the 1976 Basketball Intercontinental Cup in which

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

won the competition. The arena also hosted the

Six Days of Buenos Aires The Six Days of Buenos Aires was a former six-day cycling event, held in Luna Park stadium, Buenos Aires, Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half ...

cycle race.

History

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Buenos Aires was inhabited by thousands of immigrants from Europe. Additionally, there was an abundance of tourists from throughout the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. In 1910, Italian merchant Domingo Pace built

Luna Park Luna Park is a name shared by dozens of currently operating and defunct amusement parks. They are named after, and partly based on, the first Luna Park, which opened in 1903 during the heyday of large Coney Island parks. Luna parks are small-sc ...

, an open street fair in the heart of the city. By the 1920s, the amusement park became the playground of the aristocrats and wealthy in Argentina. With the change of scenery, the park began to decline and by 1929, many of the rides were abandoned. In 1931, Ismael Pace (son of Domingo) and boxing legend Jose Pepe Lectoure purchased land from the city. With the decline of Luna Park, Pace envisioned creating a sports arena in the likes of

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

and the Berliner Sportpalast. Before opening in 1932, the arena went through three names: Estadio de Corrientes y Bouchard, Catedral del Boxeo then Palacio de los Deportes before settling on Estadio Luna Park (in remembrance of the now torn down amusement park). Opening February 1932 as an opening air venue and carnival. The arena hosted a boxing match every Saturday, with first match being held on 5 March 1932. At this time, the arena could sit 22,000 spectators. During the off season, the arena ran rampant with the homeless, causing the venue to become an enclosed space in 1934. During the Second World War, the arena became the site of many

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

and

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

rallies. In 1944, during a charity event to benefit the victims of an earthquake in San Juan,

Eva Duarte Eva or EVA may refer to: * Eva (name), a feminine given name Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Eva (Dynamite Entertainment), a comic book character by Dynamite Entertainment * Eva (''Devil May Cry''), Dante's mother in t ...

and

Juan Perón Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine Army general and politician. After serving in several government positions, including Minister of Labour and Vice President of a military dictatorship, he was elected P ...

met for the first time. In the 1950s, the arena began to decline. Lectoure and Pace were pressured by the city to seek better revenue. In 1951, renovations began for the arena in the style of

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

, substantially, the capacity of the arena was reduced. Before construction ended, Pace and Lectoure died. Ownership of the venue was given to Lectoure's son,

Juan Carlos Lectoure Juan Carlos Lectoure (June 10, 1936March 2, 2002), nicknamed "Tito", was an Argentine businessman, mainly involved in boxing events and former owner of Buenos Aires's Luna Park stadium. He was born and raised in the Balvanera section of Buenos A ...

. Known as Tito, he converted the arena into the site for concerts and it became a major venue for the Argentine rock scene. In 2007, the arena was declared a National Historic Monument. After 80 years, the Lectoure family no longer owned the historic venue. After the death of Tito's wife, Ernestina Devecchi de Lectoure (in 2013), ownership of the arena was transferred to Sociedad Salesiana de San Juan Bosco and Cáritas Argentina.

Recordings

* On August 19 & 20, 2012, the American progressive metal band

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of the ...

recorded

Live at Luna Park ''Live at Luna Park'' is the seventh live album and video by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released on November 5, 2013, through Eagle Rock Entertainment. The concert film was produced by Over The Edge Productions and directed by ...

. * On May 29, 2013, the Finnish singer

Tarja Turunen Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli (born 17 August 1977), known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish heavy metal singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Nightwish. She is a soprano with a three and a half o ...

recorded

Luna Park Ride ''Luna Park Ride'' is the third live album released by the Finnish soprano Tarja Turunen as a solo artist. The concert was filmed at Stadium Luna Park in Buenos Aires, Argentina by the fans and mixed by Tim Palmer Timothy J. Palmer (born 4 Oc ...

. *

Emir Kusturica Emir Kusturica ( sr-cyrl, Емир Кустурица; born 24 November 1954) is a Serbian film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and musician. He also has French citizenship.http://www.serbia.com/emir-kusturica-artist-builder-and-anti-glo ...

No Smoking Orchestra The No Smoking Orchestra, frequently credited as Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra, is a Serbian garage rock band formed in Belgrade in 1993. The band was formed in 1993 by Nele Karajlić who, after relocating to Belgrade from Sarajevo, ...

released in 2005 the live DVD Live Is A Miracle In Buenos Aires, recorded at Luna Park. * Huracanes en Luna plateada live album by

Los Piojos Los Piojos were an Argentine rock band. Extremely popular, it became one of the seminal bands of the 1990s Argentine music scene. Unlike most suburban outfits, however, their style evolved significantly with each successive album, not only deve ...

was released in 2002. * El Regreso, by

Andrés Calamaro Andrés Calamaro (Andrés Calamaro Massel, August 22, 1961) is an Argentine musician, composer and Latin Grammy winner. He is considered one of the greatest and most influential rock artists in Spanish. He is also one of the most complete artist ...

, was released in 2005.

Notable concerts

Sohyang Kim So-hyang ( ko, 김소향, , born April 5, 1978), known mononymously as Sohyang, is a South Korean singer-songwriter who has been dubbed by the international media as the "Korean Mariah Carey". According to Sohyang, her goal is to use her voi ...

'Other artists that have performed at Luna Park include:

Blue Man Group Blue Man Group is an American performance art company formed in 1987. It was purchased in July 2017 by the Canadian company Cirque du Soleil. Blue Man Group is known for its stage productions, which incorporate many kinds of music and art, bot ...

, other events include

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...

's wedding (1989) and the funerals of

Carlos Gardel Carlos Gardel (born Charles Romuald Gardès; 11 December 1890 – 24 June 1935) was a French-born Argentine singer, songwriter, composer and actor, and the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was one of the most influential inte ...

(1935),

Julio Sosa Julio María Sosa Venturini (February 2, 1926 – November 26, 1964), usually referred to simply as Julio Sosa or El Varón del Tango, was a Uruguayan/Argentinian tango singer. Biography Sosa was born in Las Piedras, a Canelones Department su ...

(1964) and

Ringo Bonavena Oscar Natalio "Ringo" Bonavena (September 25, 1942 – May 22, 1976) was an Argentine heavyweight professional boxer with a career record of 58 wins, 9 losses and 1 draw. A rugged, wild-swinging puncher, he was nicknamed "Ringo" because of his Bea ...

(1976).

Gallery

File:Luna Park icono porteño.JPG, File:Luna Park desde Trinidad Guevara.jpg, File:Luna Park Desde Madero.jpg, File:Buenos Aires - San Nicolás - Luna Park.JPG, File:LUNA PARK.jpg, File:Luna Park, 2012-09-02.JPG,

References

External links

* {{Authority control

Indoor arenas in Argentina 1931 establishments in Argentina Basketball venues in Argentina Volleyball venues in Argentina Boxing venues in Argentina