The Hand of God – Bogor Botanical Garden

Well, if you are a football lover, “The hand of God” will surely bring your memory back to 30 years ago. It was when Maradona, Argentinean footballer, a famous and skillful one made a goal by using his hand.

It was a cheat but the referee overlooked his action and confirmed his goal. He later referred his action as something done by the help of the God. It created lots of pros and cons among the world of football.

Unfortunately, this time I will not float such topic in this blog. It is not because I don’t want to revive anger among British but just simply because the topic in this writing is far from football.

Yes, there is one “Hand of God” in Bogor but I am 100% sure that it is not related to soccer , football or any other sports.

Bogor’s “the Hand of God”

The phrase of “The Hand of God” in Bogor’s term refers to a statue standing on the backyard of Bogor Palace.

The statue shows a man figure on a piece of a giant hand. While he was standing , his face faces the sky.

The sculpture is not made in Indonesia. In fact the sculptor was a Swedish named Carl Milles. He was born in 1875 and died in 1955. At the later of his life, he became a US citizen.

He was once an assistant of Francois Auguste Rene Rodin, a famous French sculptor.

Milles was known to be a productive sculptor. Many of his masterpiece can be found around the world. The Poseidon statue in Gothenberg Sweden, the Gustav Vasa statue in Nordiska Museet, the Orpheous Group outisde Stockholm Concert Hall and many others.

He died in 1955 and was buried together with his wife in the Island of Lidingo in Stockholm Sweden. His home in this island became an art museum and sculpture garden named before his name, Millesgarden.

The Hand of God in Bogor Palace is just a replica. The original one is still in the Millesgarden.

There are two other cities that also have the Hand of God statue. One is Toronto at Albert Campbell Square and the other is in Detroit at Frank Murphy Hall of Justice.

The replica was presented to the government of Indonesia in 1957. However the statue itself was just put on the place only in 1963, just after the Dwikora Operation in Papua.

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It is a nice statue. With the background of the Bogor Palace behind the sculpture, then it looks amazing.

However at a first time, it is difficult for me to understand what the sculptor wanted to say.

Finally after using the mighty Google, I came to understand a bit. It was Albert Campbell’s, the first mayor of Scarborough, Ontario view of life actually. He fell in love with the sculpture as he considered the statue representing his view of life that says “Man can best achieve his goals by placing himself in the Hand of God”

Then, I can enjoy the beautiful sculpture with no other questions floating on my mind.