Bogor Botanical Gardens | |
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Kebun Raya Bogor | |
Entrance to Bogor Botanical Garden.
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Type | Botanic Garden |
Location | Bogor, West Java |
Area | 87 hectares (210 acres; 0.87 km2) |
Created | May 18, 1817 |
Founder | Caspar Georg Carl Reinwardt |
Operated by | Indonesian Institute of Sciences |
Status | Open |
Website | krbogor.lipi.go.id |
The Bogor Botanical Gardens (Indonesian: Kebun Raya Bogor) is a botanical garden located in Bogor, Indonesia, 60 km south of Jakarta. It is currently operated by Indonesian Institute of Sciences (Indonesian: Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia or LIPI). The Gardens are located in the city center and adjoin the presidential palace compound of Istana Bogor. It covers an area of 87 hectares (210 acres) and contains 13,983 different kinds of trees and plants of various origin. The geographic position of Bogor means it rains almost daily, even in the dry season. This makes the Garden an advantageous location for the cultivation of tropical plants.
Founded in 1817 by the order of the government of the Dutch East Indies, the Garden thrived under the leadership of many renowned botanists including Johannes Elias Teijsmann, Rudolph Herman Christiaan Carel Scheffer, and Melchior Treub. Since its foundation, Bogor Botanical garden has served as a major research center for agriculture and horticulture. It is the oldest botanical garden in Southeast Asia.
The area that is now Bogor Botanical Gardens was part of the samida (man made forest) that was established at least around the era when Sri Baduga Maharaja (Prabu Siliwangi, 1474-1513) ruled the Sunda Kingdom, as written in the Batutulis inscription. This forest was created to protect seeds of rare trees. The forest remained neglected after the Sundanese kingdom was destroyed in the 16th century. In 1744 the Dutch East India Company established a garden and mansion at the site of the present Botanical Gardens in Buitenzorg (now known as Bogor).