Prof Wolff Schoemaker Tombstone

This indistinct and ordinary looking tombstone is that of Prof Wolff Schoemarker (25 July 1882 - 22 May 1949), one of Indonesia's finest architects of his time and the designer of many of Bandung's historical landmarks. To learn more about him please follow the link I have given.

Bandung Museum of Geology

Photo: The front facade of Bandung Geological Museum on 57 Diponegoro Street.

The establishment of Bandung Geological Museum is closely linked to geological research in Indonesia which began in 1850. The current building, however, was not constructed until 1928. It was first meant to be a geological laboratory in which rock and mineral samples and fossils collected from different parts of the Indonesian archipelago were to be studied and stored. The museum itself was officially established on 16 May 1929 to coincide with the Fourth Asia Pacific Geology Congress held in Bandung that year.

The Art Deco style building was designed by the architect Menalda van Schowenburg.

I am going to share with you what I know about the museum in the next few posts.

Gedung Museum Geologi di Bandung yang terletak di Jalan Diponegori No. 57 mulai dibangun pada tahun 1928 dan diresmikan sebagai museum pada tanggal 16 Mei 1929 bertepatan dengan diadakannya Kongres Geologi Asia Pasifik IV di Bandung. Gedung berarsitektur Art Deco ini dirancang oleh arsitek Menalda van Schowenburg.

Bandung E-Store

The unique architecture of Bandung E-Store at Cihampelas Walk (Ciwalk).

E-Store is a premium re-seller of Apple products in Indonesia. Currently it has its outlets in four cities in Indonesia, namely Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Tangerang.

The Al Irsyad Mosque at Kota Baru Parahiyangan

This is the mihrab of the Al Irsyad Mosque at Kota Baru Parahiyangan in the west of Bandung. Instead of the traditional niche in the wall facing the direction of the Kaaba in the direction Mecca, this mosque's mihrab has the shape of an open "tunnel" with a pond surrounding a pulpit in its center. At the other end of the tunnel, there is a globe with an inscription of Allah in Arabic.

This is what the mihrab looks like from the other end of the tunnel.

 

The Al Irsyad was completed and dedicated in 2010 and was declared one of the "Building of The Year 2010"  in the religious architecture category by the National Frame Building Association. The mosque was designed by Ridwan Kamil, an Indonesian top architect living in Bandung.

Fried Chicken in A Spaceship

This spaceship-like structure is a famous American fast food restaurant at the gate of Cihampelas Walk. Nice piece of architecture, isn't it?

Vila Isola at Dusk

Some buildings are called an architectural heritage not for nothing. They are beautiful from whichever angle you see them, whatever the time of the day and whatever the season is. I think Vila Isola is such a building. I have photographically explored this building from many different angles and time of the day, and I never get bored with it.

I took this photo from the front gate of my office, which is located just across a small in-campus road from it, at dusk a couple of days ago just as I was getting out of the office. The the light of the early evening sky shining upon it gave me another photographic opportunity to marvel at its beauty. The silhouetted arch framing is that of the entrance columns (?) into my office building.

Since some of my friends and this blog visitors have sometimes asked me what camera(s) I use, I'd like to this opportunity to say once again that I don't usually use fancy or expensive cameras. I took this photo (and many others I have posted here) with a small, inexpensive pocket camera that I always have with me where ever I go. I'd rather not say what the brand is, but if you want to know you can email me.

This post is Bandung Daily Photo's participation in this weeks Skywatch Friday meme. See more sky-related photos from participating blogs from around the world here.

Villa Isola Fish Pond

A father with his daughters enjoying the fish pond at the southern garden of Vila Isola on a Sunday morning.

I have previously posted several photos and stories about this villa before. As you may remember from those posts, Vila Isola is one of Bandung's most iconic art-deco architectural heritage. Built as a private residence in the early 1930s for an Italian-Dutch media tycoon Dominique William Berretty, the founder of the Aneta press-agency in the Dutch East Indies, Vila Isola was turned into a hotel just after his death in 1934. Then it became the Bandung headquarters of Japanese occupational army in the early 1940s when Japanese Imperial Army occupied the Indonesian archipelago and an Indonesian resistance army militia headquarters during the wars for independence. After the Indonesian Independence, it was renovated and made as the central piece of the newly established Teachers' Education College or PTPG campus in 1954.

The name of the college in which this building stands has changed several times since then: Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan (Faculty of Teacher Training and Pedagogy) or FKIP of the newly established Padjajaran University in 1958, Institut Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan (Institute of Teacher Training and Education Science) or IKIP Bandung in 1963, and Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (Indonesia University of Education) or UPI in 2004.

Since 2010, the building and its surrounding gardens have been renovated to revive its past grandeur. The renovation of the park that you can see at the background of the picture was completed this year and is now designated at Vila Isola Heritage Park.

Bandung's Central Post Office

This is the aerial view of the corner of Asia-Afrika and Banceuy streets. The big building in the foreground is Bandung's Central Post Office (Kantor Pos Besar Bandung). The tall building at the background is Pasar Baru (lit. New Market), one of Bandung's oldest and biggest markets.

Bandung Architectural Heritage: Kantor Pos Besar Bandung

This is the facade of Kantor Pos Besar Bandung (Bandung Grand Post Office) at Jalan Asia Afrika 47. In front of it is the sculpture of Universal Postal Union or Union Postale Universalle (UPU). The building is painted grey and orange because they are the colors of PT Pos Indonesia (Indonesian Postal Company).

The Grand Post Office building is listed as one of Bandung's architectural heritage by Bandung Heritage Society. This building was built in 1928 and was designed by architect J. van Gent.

Face-lift at Ciwalk

I have previously told a story about Cihampelas Walk or Ciwalk.

Throughout last year they did some face-lift and construction extension to the premises. Some new features were added. These include a boutique hotel and a skywalk. Quite a few architectural features of the extension buildings are very interesting. This bright-colored, futuristic looking ark-shaped building at the gate, for example, is very eye-catching. So are the tilted columns and brightly colored roof of the corridors at the entrance.

The ark-shaped building may have been inspired by the Noah's ark facade of Perahu Jeans shop located nearby it.

If you are interested in learning how the site looks like after all the construction projects are completed, you may want to visit Ciwalk's official website here.

Football Monument

Bandung people love football (American: soccer) and they are proud of PERSIB, their football team. To show this, the city goverment commissioned this monument called Monumen Sepak Bola (Football Monument). It is located on the junction of Tamblong and Sumatra streets and was dedicated on May 8, 1990. There is no information on the ground about who designed and created the sculpture.

Heart to God Hand to Man

This is the picture of the territorial headquarters of The Salvation Army Indonesia on Jalan Jawa 20, Bandung. The building it occupies was designed by Brinkmen & Voorhave and was built in 1920. It is listed as one of Bandung's Architectural heritage.

You might wonder why there is no Christmas decoration on the premises. Well, I took the photo early in November, so the Christmas decoration was not put up yet. With or without decorations and festivities, I think what's more important about Christmas is the spirit. And I think the Salvation Army's slogan "Heart to God Hand to Man" captures it well.

I'm not a Christian or Catholic, but I believe whatever our faith is, the measure of our piety is how useful we are to other human beings. With this, I would like to wish those of you who celebrate it, Selamat Natal! (Marry Christmas!)

Mihrab of The Al Ukhuwah

This is the mihrab of the Al Ukhuwah Mosque whose chandelier I posted yesterday. As you can see in this picture, this mosque has wooden floor and light-structure roof.

Al Ukhuwah Chandelier

This is the chandelier at Mesjid Raya Al Ukhuwah (the Al Ukhuwah Grand Mosque) on Jalan Wastukancana No. 27.

Like many other mosques in Indonesia, the architecture of this mosque combines the Islamic elements with those of local culture, in this case the Sundanese culture. In this picture, the Sundanese element is represented by the ornamental motifs behind (above) the chandelier.

This post is Bandung Daily Photo's participation in My World Tuesday weekly meme and ABC Wednesday (this week's letter is M, which in this post stands for mosque or masjid, the place where this chandelier is placed). Please visit other participating blogs by clicking the links.

The Dutch Windmill at Holland Bakery

Although the windmill is not particularly Dutch, no other countries have been associated more closely with it than the Netherlands. I think this is probably one of the reasons why Holland Bakery uses the windmill icon as its company logo and for its store architecture to go with its name. Holland, as some of you may have known, is the territories in the western part of the Netherlands, the country which is often also incorrectly called as Holland.

Holland Bakery is not Dutch company, by the way. It's Indonesian. It was first established in Jakarta in 1978 and now has its headquarters in Bandung. It has many branches in many big cities in Indonesia. I like Holland Bakery's bread. I think it's one of the best in the country.

The windmill in this photo is of its store on the corner of Jalan Merdeka and Jalan L.R.E. Martadinata (Jalan Riau) near BIP (Bandung Indah Plaza).

White Rhinoceros

This white single-horn rhinoceros sculpture is placed at the fountain pond located at the southern part of the Bandung City Hall Park.

Badak (the Sundanese word for rhinoceros) is an important animal in the Sundanese culture. A native animal of the land where the Sundanese people live, badak has long held a strong cultural significance in their lives. The word badak and its synomyms are used to name a lot of things, literally and figuratively. Here are some examples:

ngabadak (v) - to open a field
heuay badak (n) - a kitchen chimney
badak heuay (n) - (literally: yawning rhino) a traditional Sundanese house architectural style in which the roof is open like that of a yawning rhino
babadak (n) - a bamboo structure that is used to dam a river or put at a river bank to prevent landslide.
ngaladog (v) - (ladog = badak = rhino) to roam far
Etc.

Many places in West Java (the Sundanese land) are also named after this animal, for example cibadak (rhino water), rancabadak or rawabadak (rhino swamp), paguyangan badak (rhino bathing place), etc.

The single-horn Sundanese or Javan rhino (rhinoceros sondaicus) has mostly vanished in most part of the Sundanese land. Currently only about 50 are left in the wild. They are protected at the Ujung Kulon National Park at the western tip of Java Island. Not long ago, however, this animal used to roam free in many parts of the island. According to the surviving notes of Europeans visiting the area, for example, this animal could still be found in what now becomes the city of Bandung up until the end of the 18th century CE.

Villa Isola Series # 5: Villa Isola at Dusk and The Skywatch Friday

My blogging friend Babooshka of Ramsey Daily Photo has an interesting project of making 100 photographs of Ramsey Swing Bridge. So far, I think she has made 25. The same bridge from different angles and taken at different times. They are all beautiful and well-made.

I'm trying to do the same with Villa Isola, one of Bandung's architectural masterpiece heritage. My target is not 100, but 33. Today's picture is the fifth. The previous four are here:

The first
The second
The third
The fourth

Today's post is also Bandung Daily Photo's participation in the weekly meme Skywatch Friday. Check other participating blogs with photos of the sky here.

Vihara Vipassana Graha

The Buddhist vihara and meditation center Vihara Vipassana Graha is located on Jalan Kolonel Masturi 69, Lembang, about 10 kilometers north of Bandung. The construction of this two-hectare hill top compound began on 23 February, 1992 and was dedicated on 21 October 1995.

Vihara Vipassana Graha is open not only for Buddhists, but also for the general public who want to learn about Buddhism and meditation.

Lapangan Tegallega

No, this is not a cemetary and these marked stones are not the tombstones. As you may have noticed, the inscription on the foreground stone reads "The Islamic Republic of Iran" and underneath it the local name of a plant and its latin name.

This is the Tegallega city forest/park where the Bandung Lautan Api (Bandung Sea of Fire) monument is located. These trees and the marker stones were planted and put in place in April 2005 to mark the 50th Anniversary or the Golden Jubilee of the Asian-African Conference. Each country that originally attended the Conference in 1955 is represented here by a tree and a stone-marker. The trees were ceremonially dedicated by the respresentatives of those countries who again came to Bandung to attend the anniversary in 2005.

The Bandung Conference, as some of you may have known, took place from April 18 to 25, 1955. Jointly organized by Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Burma (Myanmar), and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), the conference - attended by representatives of 29 Asian and African nations, most of which were newly independent - was aimed at promoting political self-determination, mutual respect for sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, and equality. Specifically, this group of nations that later became the fetus of the Non-Alligned Movement (NAM) were also pursuing the agenda of Afro-Asian economic and cultural cooperation and resisting colonialism or neocolonialism by the world's superpowers.

Bandung Lautan Api (Bandung The Sea of Fire)

This is the Bandung Lautan Api (Bandung the Sea of Fire) Monument or BLA at Tegalega.

The BLA monument was erected to commemorate a historical event that took place in the city on the evening of March 24, 1946 (60 years ago today) when the inhabitants of the city deliberately burned down the city (read: their own houses and other important buildings) and evacuated it in a heroic act to prevent the city from being recaptured and used by the British and Allied Forces who were helping the Ductch to reclaim its former colony after the Japanese surrender.

The decision to burn down and abandon the city was reached at a deliberation of Majelis Persatuan Perjuangan Priangan (an organization that united all the people's militia fighting for the Indonesian independence in Bandung and its surrounding area) in the morning of 24 Maret 1946, and was announced and executed later on the same day.

Here is an old picture of the situation in Bandung after the event.