Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex

Originally built with substantial Soviet assistance, this sports complex was a brain child of Sukarno, the first President of Indonesia, in order to host the 1962 Asian Games.

113/1959 dated 11 May 1959 about the establishment of the Asian Games Council of Indonesia (DAGI) led by Minister of Sports Maladi.

Sukarno, as an architect and civil engineering graduate, proposed a location near M. H. Thamrin Boulevard and Menteng, namely the area of Karet, Pejompongan, or Dukuh Atas.

Friedrich Silaban, a renowned architect who accompanied Sukarno to review the location by helicopter, disagreed with the selection of Dukuh Atas because he argued the construction of a sports complex in the center of the future downtown area will potentially create massive traffic congestion.

[2] The first pole erection was done symbolically by Sukarno and Soviet First Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan on 8 February 1960.

It also hosted 2018 Asian Games along with Palembang's complex and some other venues across Palembang, Banten, Greater Jakarta and West Java, while it served only with other venues across Greater Jakarta and West Java during the subsequent Para Games.

Media related to Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex at Wikimedia Commons

Jakarta residents exercise near the Gelora Bung Karno main stadium
The map of the GBK during the 2018 Asian Games
The main stadium
Exterior of the Istora during the 2018 Asian Games
Gelora Bung Karno Aquatic Stadium. The 2016–17 renovation introduced a new, wave-shaped roof above the arena which originally only had roofs at the tribune.
Photo of the Gelora Bung Karno Softball Field taken from the nearby shopping mall fX Sudirman
Exterior of the Indonesia Arena
Madya, Tennis Indoor, and Tennis Outdoor arenas
The 2018 Asian Games cauldron in the southeast of the complex