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Bogor (Indonesian: Kota Bogor) is a city on the
island of Java in the West Java province of
Indonesia. The city is located in the center of the
Bogor Regency (Indonesian: Kabupaten Bogor), 60
kilometers south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta.
Bogor itself is a recognized as a municipality
(cat); it is an important economic, scientific,
cultural and tourist center, as well as a mountain
resort.
In the Middle Ages, the city was the capital of
Sunda Kingdom (Indonesian: Kerajaan Sunda) and was
called Pakuan Pajajaran. During the Dutch
colonization of Indonesia, it was named Buitenzorg
and served as the summer residence of the
Governor-General of Dutch East Indies. The city was
the administrative center of the Netherlands East
Indies during the British control in the early 19th
century.
With several hundred thousand people living on an
area of about 20 km², the central part of Bogor is
one of the world's most densely populated areas. The
city has a presidential palace and a botanical
garden (Indonesian: Kebun Raya Bogor) – one of the
oldest and largest in the world. It bears the
nickname "the Rain City" (Kota Hujan), because of
frequent rain showers. It nearly always rains even
during the dry season.
History
Precolonial period
The first mentioning of a settlement at present
Bogor dates to the 5th century when the area was
part of Tarumanagara, one of the first states on the
territory of modern Indonesia. After a series of
defeats from the neighboring Srivijaya, Tarumanagara
was transformed into the Sunda Kingdom, and in 669,
the capital of Sunda was built between the small
rivers Ciliwung and Cisadane. It was named Pakuan
Pajajaran, that in old Sundanese means "a place
between the parallel [rivers]", and became the
predecessor of the modern Bogor.
Over the next several centuries, Pakuan Pajajaran
become one of the largest cities in medieval
Indonesia with population reaching 48,000. The name
Pajajaran was then used for the entire kingdom, and
the capital was simply called Pakuan. The chronicles
of that time were written in Sanskrit, which was the
language of the Church, using the Pallava writing
system, on rock stellas called prasasti. The
prasasti found in and around Bogor differ in shape
and text style from other Indonesian prasasti and
are among the main attractions of the city.
In the 9–15th centuries, the capital was moving
between Pakuan and other cities of the kingdom, and
finally returned to Pakuan by King Siliwangi (Badugi
Sri Maharaja) on 3 June 1482 – the day of his
coronation. Since 1973, this date is celebrated in
Bogor as an official city holiday.
In 1579, Pakuan was captured and almost completely
destroyed by the army of Sultanate of Banten,
ceasing the existence of the State of Sunda. The
city was abandoned and remained uninhabited for
decades.
Colonial period
Dutch East India Company
In the second half of the 17th century, the
abandoned Pakuan as most of West Java, while
formally remaining under the Sultanate of Banten,
gradually passed under control of the Dutch East
India Company (VOC). The formal transition occurred
on 17 April 1684 by signing an agreement between the
Crown Prince of Banten and the VOC.
The first, and temporal, colonial settlement at
Pakuan was a camp of lieutenant Tanuwijaya, a
Sundanese employed by the VOC who was sent in 1687
to develop the area. It was seriously damaged by the
eruption on 4–5 January 1699 of the Mount Salak
volcano (Indonesian: Gunung Salak), however the
concomitant forest fires removed much forest,
leaving much area for the planned rice and coffee
plantations. In a short time, several agricultural
settlements appeared around Pakuan, the largest
being Kampung Baru (lit. "new village"). In 1701,
they were combined into an administrative district;
Tanuwijaya was chosen as the head of the district
and is regarded as the founder of the modern Bogor
Regency.
The district was further developed during the 1703
Dutch mission headed by the Inspector General of the
VOC Abraham van Riebeeck (the son of the founder of
Cape Town Jan van Riebeeck and later Governor of
Dutch East Indies). The expedition of van Riebeeck
performed a detailed study of the Pakuan ruins,
discovered and described many archaeological
artifacts, including prasasti, and erected buildings
for the VOC employees. The area attracted the Dutch
by a favorable geographical position and mild
climate, preferred over the hot Batavia which was
then the administrative center of the Dutch East
Indies. In 1744–1745, the residence of the
Governor-General was built in Pakuan which was
hosting the government during the summer.
In 1746, by the order of the Governor-General
Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff, the Palace, a nearby
Dutch settlement and nine native settlements were
merged into an administrative division named
Buitenzorg (meaning either "beyond care" or "outside
care"). Around the same time, the first reference to
Bogor as the local names of the city was documented;
it was mentioned in the administration report from 7
April 1752 with respect to the part of Buitenzorg
adjacent to the Palace. Later this name became used
for the whole city as the local alternative to
Buitenzorg. This name is believed to originate from
the Javanese word bogor meaning sugar palm (Arenga
pinnata), which in still used in the Indonesian
language. Alternative origins are the old-Javanese
word bhagar (meaning cow), or simply the misspelling
of "Buitenzorg" by the local residents.
The city grew rapidly in the late 18th – early 19th
centuries. This growth was partly stimulated by the
temporary occupation of the Dutch East Indies by
United Kingdom in 1811–1815 – the British landed on
Java and other Sunda Islands to prevent their
capture by Napoleonic France which then conquered
the Netherlands. The head of the British
administration Stamford Raffles moved the
administrative center from Batavia to Buitenzorg and
implemented new and more efficient management
techniques.
Rule of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
After Buitenzorg was returned to the Dutch, it fell
under the rule of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
rather than VOC. The Buitenzorg Palace was
reinstated as the summer residence of the
Governor-General. A botanical garden was set up
nearby in 1817, which was one of the world's largest
gardens in the 19th century.
On 10 October 1834, Buitenzorg was seriously damaged
by another eruption of the Salak volcano caused by
an earthquake. Taking into account the seismic
activity of the region, the governor's palace and
office buildings constructed in 1840–1850 were built
shorter but sturdier than those built prior to the
eruption. The Governor's decree of 1845 prescribed
separate settlements of European, Chinese and Arab
migrants within the city.
In 1860–1880, the largest agricultural school in the
colony was established in Buitenzorg. Other
scientific institutions including a city library,
natural science museum, biology, chemistry, and
veterinary medicine laboratories were also
constructed during this period. By the end of the
19th century, Buitenzorg became one of the most
developed and Westernized cities in Indonesia.
In 1904, Buitenzorg formally became the
administrative center of the Dutch East Indies.
However, real management remained in Batavia, which
hosted most of the administrative offices and the
main office of the governor. This status was revoked
in the administrative reform of 1924, which divided
the colony into provinces and set Buitenzorg as the
center of West Java Province.
1942–1950
During World War II Buitenzorg and the entire
territory of Dutch East Indies were occupied by
Japanese forces; the occupation lasted from 6 March
1942 until the summer of 1945. As part of the
efforts by the Japanese to promote nationalist (and
thus anti-Dutch) sentiments among the local
population the city was given the Indonesian name
Bogor. The city had one of the major training
centers of the Indonesian militia PETA (Pembela
Tanah Air – "Defenders of the Motherland").
On 17 August 1945, Indonesia became independent
state, but, soon the Dutch regained control of the
town and adjoining areas. In February 1948, Bogor
was included in the quasi-independent state of West
Java,(Indonesian: Negara Jawa Barat) which was
renamed in April 1948 into Pasundan (Indonesian:
Negara Pasundan). This state was established by the
Netherlands as a step to transform their former
colonial possessions in the East Indies into a
dependent federation. In December 1949, Pasundan
joined the Republic of the United States of
Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia Serikat,
RIS) established at the Dutch–Indonesian Round Table
Conference of 23 August – 2 November 1949. In
February 1950, as a result of defeat of Pasundan in
a quick military conflict with the Republic of
Indonesia, the city became part of Indonesia, as
formalized in August 1950, and its name was
officially declared as Bogor.
As part of Indonesia
As part of independent Indonesia, Bogor began to
play a significant role in the cultural, scientific
and economic development of the country and West
Java in particular – primarily due to the
infrastructure built during the colonial period. Its
special position was further reinforced by the
transformation of the former summer residence of the
governor-general into the summer palace of the
President of Indonesia. In the 1990s–2000s, the city
regularly hosted various international events, such
as ministry-level meetings of the Asia-Pacific
institutions and the APEC summit of 15 November
1994. Since 2008, a Christian church congregation in
Bogor has been embroiled with Islamic
fundamentalists over the building permit for their
new church.
Geography, topography, geology
The city is situated in the western part of Java
island, about 60 km south of the capital Jakarta and
85 km northwest of Bandung, the administrative
center of West Java Province. Bogor spreads over a
basin near volcanoes Salak, which peaks at about
12 km south, and Gunung Gede whose top is 22–25 km
south-east of the city. The average elevation is 265
meters, maximum 330 m, and minimum 190 meters above
sea level. The terrain is rather uneven: 17.64 km²
of its area has slopes of 0–2°, 80.9 km² from 2° to
15°, 11 km² between 15° and 25°, 7.65 km² from 25°
to 40° and 1.20 km² over 40°; the northern part is
relatively flat and the southern part is more hilly.
The soils are dominated by volcanic sedimentary
rocks. Given the proximity of large active
volcanoes, the area is considered highly seismic.
The total area of green space is 205,000 m², of
which 87,000 m² are Bogor Botanical Gardens, 19,400
m² are taken by 35 parks, 17,200 m² by 24 groves and
81,400 m² are covered with grass.
Several rivers flow through the city toward the Java
Sea. The largest ones, Ciliwung and Cisadane, flank
the historic city center. Smaller rivers,
Cipakancilan, Cidepit, Ciparigi and Cibalok, are
guided by cement tubes in many places. It is worth
noting that "ci" in the river names mere means
"river" in Sundanese, and the actual name begins
after it, but the "ci" is nevertheless included into
national and international maps. There are several
small lakes within the city, including Situ Burung
(lit. Bird Lake; "Situ" meaning "Lake") and Situ
Gede (lit. Great Lake), with the area of several
hectares each. Rivers and lakes occupy 2.89% of the
city area.
Climate
The climate is equatorial, and more humid and rainy
than in many other areas of West Java – the average
relative humidity is 70%, the average annual
precipitation is about 1700 mm, but more than
3500 mm in some areas. Most rains fall between
December and February. Because of this weather,
Bogor has the nickname "Rain City" (Indonesian: Kota
hujan). The temperatures are lower than in Java: the
average maximum is 25.9 °C (cf. 32.2 °C in Jakarta).
Daily fluctuations (9–10 °C) are rather high for
Indonesia. The absolute maximum temperature was
recorded at 38 °C and the minimum at 3 °C.
Population
According to the national census held in May–August
2010, 949,066 people were registered in Bogor. The
average population density is about 8,000 people per
km²; it reaches 12,571 persons per km² in the center
and drops to 5,866 people per km² in the southern
part.
The rapid population growth in Bogor after 1960 is
related to urbanization as well as the influx of
workforce from other parts of the country. The birth
rate in 2009 was 563 children per 10,000 people,
with the mortality value of 272. During the same
year, 12,709 permanent resident moved in and 3,391
people left the city. Men constituted 51.06% and
women 48.94% of the population; 28.39% of the
inhabitants were under 15 years old, 67.42% were
aged 15–65 years and 3.51% – over 65 years. The 2005
estimate of the life expectancy is 71.8 years, which
is the highest figure for West Java and one of the
highest in Indonesia.
Most population (87%) are Sundanese, with
considerable numbers of Javanese, Chinese and other,
often mixed ethnicities. Virtually all adults are
fluent in Indonesian – the official language of the
country. Sundanese is used at home and in some
public areas and events – for example, the solemn
speech of the mayor at the City Day celebration of 3
June 2010 was delivered in Sundanese. The local
dialect of Sundanese significantly differs from the
classical version both lexically and phonetically.
The majority of population (94%) are Muslims, with
just over 5% Christians. However, there are many
Christian churches in the city, as well as Buddhist
(mostly in the Chinese community ) and Hindu
communities.
Administration
Bogor City belongs to the Bogor Regency (kabupaten)
and in itself is a separate municipality (cat). The
city is divided into six areas (kecamatan), which
contain 68 low-level administrative units, 31 of
which have the status of settlement and 37 are
villages.
The city is headed by the mayor elected by the
citizens every 5 years, together with vice-mayor; in
the past, the mayor was appointed by the provincial
administration. Diani Budiarto became the first
elected mayor of Bogor on 25 October 2008 and
assumed his position on 7 April 2009. Legislative
power is provided by the City Council which consists
of 45 people's representatives who are also elected
by the residents for a 5 year term. Nine political
parties consisting of five fractions are represented
in the Council.
The coat of arms of Bogor is a rectangular heraldic
shield with a pointed base and the side lengths
ratio of 5:4, divided by a cross into four parts.
The upper left quarter contains the State Emblem of
Indonesia – the mythical bird Garuda, in the upper
left is the presidential palace, in the bottom left
is the Salak volcano, and in the lower right is the
national Sundanese dagger kujang. The inscription on
top reads "KOTA BOGOR" meaning "CITY BOGOR".
Economy
Bogor has developed automotive chemical and food
industries; its outlying areas are used for
agriculture. During the colonization, Bogor was
mostly producing coffee, rubber and high-quality
timber. Chemical industry was introduced to the city
at the end of the 19th century, and car and metal
production in the 1950s, during the
industrialization of independent Indonesia. The fast
economic development of the 1980s was slowed down by
the crisis of the 1990s and recovered in the early
2000s; so the growth rate of the economy in Bogor
was 5.78% in 2002, 6.07% in 2003 and 6.02% in 2009.
At the end of 2009, the Gross Regional Product (GRP)
was 12.249 trillion IDR (approximately 1.287 billion
USD) and the investments amounted to 932.295 billion
IDR.
Despite the economical growth, the number of
citizens living below the poverty level (defined by
not only cash income, but also access to basic
social services) is increasing, primarily due to the
inflow of poor residents of the surrounding rural
areas. In 2009, 17.45% of the population lived below
the poverty level, almost twice higher than in 2006
(9.5%)[68] Minimum wage is established by the city
authorities at 800,000 IDR/month.
In 2008 there were 3,208 officially registered
industrial enterprises in Bogor employing 54,268
people, more than half (32,237) of whom worked at
the 114 largest companies. The outskirts of the city
contain about 3,466 hectares of agricultural area,
including 111 hectares of water bodies used for
fishery and fish farming. The main crops are rice
(1165 hectares as of 2007, the annual harvest in
2003 was 9,953 tonnes), various vegetables (772
acres, 8,296 tonnes), corn (382 acres, 6,720 tonnes)
and sweet potato (480 acres, 3,480 tonnes). The
livestock sector has 25 registered companies (as of
2007) mostly breeding cows (more than 1000 animals
yielding more than 2.61 million liters of milk),
sheep (about 12,000), chickens (more than 642,000)
and ducks (ca. 8,000).
About 25–30 tonnes of various species of fish are
produced per year by 4 registered companies. The
fishes are mostly bred artificially, in ponds and
paddy fields. Breeding aquarium fish and also
catching them in their natural habitat is an
important industry sector, which yielded 367,000 USD
from 2008 export sales only, mostly to Japan and
Middle East. A substantial part of other Bogor
production, 144 billion IDR in 2008, is exported.
Examples are clothes and footwear (to US, EU, ASEAN,
Canada, Australia, Russia), textiles (US, New
Zealand), furniture (South Korea), car tires (ASEAN
countries and South America), toys and souvenirs
(Japan, Germany, Brazil), soft drinks (ASEAN
countries and Middle East). Most of the local sells
are carried out via the eight major shopping
centers, nine supermarkets and seven major markets.
Transport
Bogor is a major transport center of Java. It
contains 599.2 kilometers of roads (as of 2008)
which cover 5.31% of the city area; 30.2 kilometers
of the roads are of national and 26.8 km of
prefectural importance. The 22 transport lines are
operated by 3,506 buses and minibuses. In addition,
10 bus routes connect the city with the nearest
metropolitan area (4,612 buses) and 40 with other
cities of West Java (330 buses). There are two major
bus terminals, Baranangsiang and Bubulak. The former
has an area of 22,100 m² and is dedicated to
long-distance and freight traffic while the latter
(area 11,850 m²) serves urban passenger routes. A
separate station is dedicated to tourist coaches and
buses to the nearest Soekarno–Hatta International
Airport in Jakarta, located about 55 kilometers from
Bogor. Recent years see a significant increase in
the number of traditional Indonesian rickshaw
(becak) at more than 2,000 units as of 2009. The
train station of Bogor was built in 1881, and
currently serves about 50,000 passengers and has
about 70 departures and 70 arrivals per day.
Housing and facilities
Residential buildings occupy 26.46% of the city, or
71.11% of its built-up area; 5–14 storey buildings
dominate the central part and the outlying areas are
mostly built up with single-storeyed houses. The
population rise in the 1990s–2000s due to the inflow
of external workforce sharply increased the number
of substandard housing, mainly on the outskirts of
the city. More than half of the slums (1,242,490 m²)
are located in northern Bogor, whereas their area is
only 89,780 m² in southern part of the city. To
improve this situation, the city administration
launched a program of construction of cheap housing
types (light prefabricated houses) in the western
Bogor. These houses combine reasonable rent ($22 per
year) at acceptable living conditions.
Electricity to Bogor is supplied by Indonesian state
company Perusahaan Listrik Negara, which serves the
provinces of West Java and Banten. Electricity is
provided by more than ten regional thermal and
hydroelectric power plants via two local transformer
stations located in the Bogor districts of Cimahpar
and Cibilong. Whereas most of the houses (excluding
some slum areas) are provided with electricity,
street lighting covers only 35.38% of the city
(4,193 light sources, as of 2007), however, the
number of street lights is increasing at an annual
rate of 10–15%.
As of 2009, only 47% of Bogor is provided with clean
tap water through a centralized water supply systems
managed by state-owned Tirta Pakuan. The municipal
system takes water from rivers Cisadane (1240 liters
per second), and three natural sources: Kota Batu,
Bentar-Kambing and Tangka (410 liters per second).
Although, the water network has a total length of
741 kilometers and covers about 70% of the city,
connection to it is often problematic for financial
and technical reasons. More than half of residents
use water wells or natural reservoirs.
Garbage collection service covers 67% of the urban
area. From about 800,000 m3 of waste per year, about
90% is buried at an external landfill at Galuga,
about 7% is recycled for compost and about 3% is
burned in five incinerators within the city.
The seven cemeteries of Bogor are named by the city
districts as Cilendek, Kayumanis, Situgede,
Mulyahardzha, Blender, Dreded and Gunung Gadung. The
first six have the status of "public cemeteries"
(Indonesian: Tempat pemakaman umum), and have no
restrictions by religion or ethnicity. However,
given the religious composition of Bogor, the
cemeteries are predominantly Muslim, and Christian
graves are located either in separate areas of
cemeteries or in a small cemetery adjacent to
churches. Some mosques also have small burial plots.
Graves for poor and nameless are mostly located at
Kayumanis, and Gunung Gadung cemetery is restricted
to Chinese residents.
Education and science
Bogor is one of the major scientific and educational
centers in Indonesia. A significant part of academic
and research base was laid in the period of Dutch
colonization. In particular, since the beginning of
the 19th century there were established laboratories
and professional schools focused primarily on
improving the efficiency of the colonial
agricultural; In the late 19th – early 20th
centuries have been established over major
scientific institutions – the Research Institute and
Rubber Research Institute of Forest.
Similar to the prevailing profile of research and
academic activity was retained in Bogor Indonesia
and after gaining independence. As in the second
half of 20th century, and in the 2000s strongest
areas were agricultural science, Biology and
Veterinary. The main educational and scientific
center with the utmost national importance, is the
Bogor Institute of Agriculture, whose structure, in
addition to educational facilities, includes dozens
of research centers and laboratories.
The literacy rate in Bogor (98.7%) is rather high
for Indonesia. Bogor Institute of Agriculture
(Indonesian: Institut Pertanian Bogor) is the main
agricultural university of the country. It was
founded in 1963 based on the agricultural college,
which was established back in the 19th century by
the Dutch colonial administration. The largest
private universities are Pakuan, Juanda, Nusa Bangsa
and Ibn Khaldun. In addition to regular schools,
there are over 700 Muslim schools (madrasah) and
several Christian schools and colleges.
Most scientific research in Bogor is carried out in
agriculture, soil science, dendrology, veterinary
and ichthyology. More specific areas include natural
pesticides and repellents, intercropping, industrial
applications of essential oils and natural
alkaloids, increasing yields of various kinds of
pepper, improving preservation processes, etc. The
city hosts the Center for International Forestry
Research (CIFOR) – a non-profit scientific
structure, operating under the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
Culture
Bogor is one of the leading cities of Indonesia by
the number of musea, some of which are among the
oldest and largest in the country. The Zoological
Museum (Indonesian: Museum Zoologi) which was opened
in 1894 by the Dutch colonial administration as an
adjunct to the Botanic Gardens and contains
thousands of exhibits. Other prominent musea are
more recent. So the museum of ethnobotany
(Indonesian: Museum Etnobotani) was opened in 1982
and has more than 2000 exhibits; museum of the earth
(Indonesian: Museum Tanah, 1988) represents hundreds
of soil and rock samples from different parts of
Indonesia; museum of the struggle (Indonesian:
Museum Perjuangan, 1957) is devoted to the history
of the Indonesian national liberation movement; and
museum of PETA (1996) reflects the history of the
Indonesian military militia PETA (Pembela Tanah Air
– "Defenders of the Motherland ") created during
World War II by the Japanese administration.
The city has a drama theater, dozens of movie
theaters, nine of which (as of mid-2010) are set-up
at international standards. The presidential palace,
administrative buildings and universities regularly
host art exhibitions, and there are regular
festivals of folk art, conferences and
culture-related seminars, such as the Congress of
Indonesian culture (Indonesian: Kongres Kebudayaan
Indonesia) of 2008.
Health
The first hospitals were established in Bogor in the
first half of the 19th century by the Dutch
authorities. By the early 20th century, there were
several civilian hospitals, a military hospital, and
a large psychiatric hospital with doctors from
Europe and North America. In the 1930s, the Dutch
Red Cross Society hospital became the largest in the
city. Most of the existing hospitals and clinics are
built in the 1980s–1990s. They include 11 hospitals,
373 private clinics, 51 single-doctor clinics and
134 pharmacies and drug stores, and employ 274
general practitioners, 122 dentists, 74 sanitation
doctors, 37 radiologists (X-ray), 141 gynecologists,
32 nutritionists, 55 assistants, 710 nurses, 63
pharmacists and 99 doctors of other specialties.
The 11 hospitals of Bogor are:
Hospital of the Indonesian Red Cross Society
(Indonesian: Rumah Sakit Palang Merah Indonesia) –
general, the oldest in the city
"Karya Bhakti" (Indonesian: Rumah Sakit Karya
Bhakti) – general
"Salak" (Indonesian: Rumah Sakit Salak) – general
"Ciawi" (Indonesian: Rumah Sakit Ciawi) – hospital
of the Indonesian Red Cross Society, general
"Atang Sanjaya" (Indonesian: Atang Sanjaya) –
general hospital of Air Force
Bogor Medical Center – general practitioners,
private
Islamic Hospital (Indonesian: Rumah Sakit Islam) –
general, only for Muslims
"Azra" (Indonesian: Rumah Sakit Azra) – women and
children
"Melania" (Indonesian: Rumah Sakit Melania) – women
and children
"Hermina" (Indonesian: Rumah Sakit Hermina) – women
and children
"Marzuki Mahdi" (Indonesian: Rumah Sakit Marzuki
Mahdi) – infectious diseases
Media
Bogor has two daily Indonesian-language newspapers –
"Radar Bogor", founded in 1998 and Jurnal Bogor,
founded in 2008. Both print in about 25,000 copies
and have electronic versions. Bogor offices also
partly print part some Javanese and national
newspapers. There are a few magazines and scientific
publications of the local universities.
The two municipal TV channels, "Bogor-TV" and
"Megasvara TV" broadcast at UHF channel 25 over the
city and nearby areas of West Java. There are also
at least 30 local radio stations, of which 20 are in
the FM and 10 in the AM range.
Sport
As of March 2010, the Bogor teams were registered in
28 sports to participate in national and regional
competitions conducted by the National Sports
Committee of Indonesia (Indonesian: Komite Nasional
Olahraga Indonesia). Their achievements are regarded
as poor. So at the Java competitions, Bogor athletes
took 5 gold medals instead of the planned 42. The
largest among 15 sports organizations is the Bogor
Football Union (Indonesian: Persatuan Sepakbola
Bogor), headed by the current Mayor Diani Budiarto.
The local football team "PSB Bogor" never took
prizes in the national championships. The local
Stadium Pajajaran can accommodate 25,000 spectators.
Travel and places
On a national tourism exhibition of 2010 in Jakarta,
Bogor was recognized as the most attractive tourist
city of Indonesia. The city and its surrounding area
are visited by about 1.8 million people per year, of
whom more than 60,000 are foreigners. The main
tourist attraction is the Bogor Botanical Garden.
Founded in 1817, it contains more than 6,000 species
of tropical plants. Besides, about 42 bird species
breed within the garden, although this number is
declining and was 62 before 1952. The garden's
87-hectare area within the city was supplemented in
1866 by a 120-hectare park in suburban town of
Cibodas. Much of the original rainforest was
preserved within the garden providing specimens for
scientific studes. Besides, the garden was enriched
by collections of palms, bamboos, cacti, orchids and
ornamental trees. It became famous in the late 19th
century and was visited by naturalists from abroad
to conduct scientific research. For example, the
Russian St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences had a
Buitenzorg scholarship for young scientists to work
at Bogor. The staff of Bogor garden also administer
three other major gardens of Iindonesia: the Cibodas
Botanical Garden founded 1862 in West Java, the
Purwodadi Botanical Garden in East Java and the Eka
Karya Botanical Garden founded in 1959 on Bali
island.
Another tourist attraction is the presidential
palace with the total area of 28 hectares, including
1.8492 hectares of the palace buildings. The palace
is surrounded by a park with a small pond. The park
is home to a herd of tame deer and is open to the
public most of the year. The palace is accessible
during holidays, such as the City Day and
Independence Day; it has a collection of 450
paintings and 360 sculptures.
The city and its suburbs contain dozens of medieval
stone stellas (prasasti). Fifteen prasasti of the
greatest historical and cultural value are collected
in a special pavilion in the district of Batutulis.
In the western part of Bogor there is a large lake
Gede (area 6 hectares) surrounded by the reserved
forest area and a forest park. In the protected area
there are several research facilities, and the
recreation areas host sports activities, boating and
fishing.
On the territory of the botanic garden, there is a
cemetery established in 1784. It contains 42
historical graves of the Dutch colonial officials,
military officers and scientists, who served in
Bogor, Jakarta and other cities in West Java from
the late 18th to early 20th centuries. Nearby, there
are three graves of the early Sunda Kingdom (15th
century): the wife of the founder of Bogor
Silivangi, Galuh Mangku Alam, vizier Ba'ul and
commander Japra. The locals regard these individuals
as the city's patrons. Other historical places are
the Bogor Cathedral – built in 1750, it is one of
the oldest operational Catholic Churches in
Indonesia, and the Buddhist temple Hok Tek Bio,
built in 1672 in the classical South Chinese style.
It is the first Buddhist temple of Bogor and one of
the oldest in Indonesia.
Twin cities
St. Louis, United States – since 2007
Shenzhen, People's Republic of China – since 2005
Gödöllõ, Hungary – since 2008
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