IPB University Campus : Bogor’s Cultural Heritage

Walking around the famous Bogor Botanic Gardens may cause people overwhelmed by the environment. Fresh air, nice green view of the first Botanical Gardens in South East Asia tends to make people forgetting that Bogor is an old city with many cultural heritages inside.

One of the referred place is the IPB University Campus located opposite to the Great Gardens. The building may not be considered attractive for tourists considering it still operates as a place many young people gain knowledge, to learn.

However, actually it should be one of the place to visit, should you want to learn one important part of Bogor and Indonesia.

The brown painted building, in Baranangsiang District, East Bogor, is one symbol of Indonesia’s effort to become “independent” in term of food supply.

In this place, students in the past, post-Indonesia’s Independence Proclamation, learned agricultural science, an important knowledge to improve the productivity of rice and other food plants. At that time, Bogor Agriculture Institute, the former name of IPB University was not formed yet. It was still a faculty of University of Indonesia.

The building was set up in 1952, more than ten years before IPB University was formally separated from University of Indonesia in 1963. The age which is more than 50 years has given its status as cultural heritage of the city.

Since then, students from all over Indonesia come to study all science related to food productions, agriculture, industry, and many other things.

Until now, even though majority of the lecturing activities have been moved to newer campus in Dramaga District, West Bogor, some are still done here.

The old building also keeps some mystery. Some stories, scary ones, have circled inside Bogorians that some ghost appearance has been seen inside several rooms.

True or not, I can’t confirm but still many students, like my friends who studied there said it was not just word of mouth.

The campus is also known for the natural fake “snow” falls during summer which I may tell you later.

Finally, if you come to Bogor to learn a bit part of the city history, IPB University Campus may be one that you should visit. You may not see any ghost appearance you may expect but at least you see a cultural heritage of Bogor.

Yes, it’s quite open for public and you can just sit there to imagine about the past, when students of early Indonesia with gusto tried to grab knowledge in one of the oldest universities in Indonesia.