Estadio Luna Park (commonly known as Luna Park) is a multi-purpose arena in Buenos Aires. Located at the corner of Avenida Corrientes and Avenida Bouchard; in the San Nicolás neighborhood.
- Venue
- Estadio Luna Park
- Address
- Av. Madero 420, Buenos Aires
- Town
- Buenos Aires, AR
- Capacity
- 9,200
Estadio Luna Park (commonly known as Luna Park) is a multi-purpose arena in Buenos Aires. Located at the corner of Avenida Corrientes and Avenida Bouchard; in the San Nicolás neighborhood. Initially, the arena primarily hosted boxing 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, several ballets, tennis and volleyball matches, world championship and important non-championship boxing fights involving Nicolino Locche, Hugo Corro, Santos Laciar, Carlos Monzón, Omar Narvaez, Juan Roldán, Julio César Vásquez and many other famous boxers, circuses, the Harlem Globetrotters, Holiday on Ice and many more. The arena also hosted the 1950 FIBA World Championship, the final phase of the 1990 Basketball World Championship and the 1976 Basketball Intercontinental Cup in which Real Madrid won the competition. The arena also hosted the Six Days of Buenos Aires cycle race. 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. In 1910, Italian merchant Domingo Pace built Luna Park, 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 and the Berlin 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). The arena