Cipanas () is a town in Cipanas district, in the northern part of the

Cianjur Regency Cianjur Regency is a Regency (Indonesia), regency ''(kabupaten)'' of West Java, Indonesia. The area of the regency is 3,503.75 km2 and its population at the 2010 Census was 2,171,281;Biro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. the 2020 Census produ ...

West Java West Java (, ) is an Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten and the country's capital region of Jakarta to t ...

, Indonesia. It is situated in the valley of

Mount Gede Mount Gede (; in Sundanese) is a stratovolcano in West Java, Indonesia. The volcano contains two peaks with Mount Gede as one peak and Mount Pangrango for the other one. Three major cities, Cianjur, Sukabumi, and Bogor, are located in the volc ...

, south-east of the Indonesian capital city of

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

. The name of the town means "hot water" or "hot spring" in Sundanese (''ci'', water; ''panas'', hot), due to the presence of sulphuric

hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

in the area. Apart from the hot springs, Cipanas was also a

hill station A hill station is a touristic town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The English term was originally used mostly in Western imperialism in Asia, colonial Asia, but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by ...

for the then

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

Governor-Generals, as it was a popular getaway from the intense heat and humidity from the low-lying lands area (including

). Maintaining its legacy to present day, Cipanas continues to become a popular destination for holiday seekers mainly coming from Jakarta and its surroundings, as the district saw a recent boom on villa complexes and rental houses. The town had a population of 15,435 at the 2010 Census (the district held a population of 103,911). It is best known by the

Cipanas Palace Cipanas Palace ( Istana Cipanas) is one of the seven presidential palaces of Republic of Indonesia. It is located in Cipanas, Cipanas, Cianjur, Cipanas, West Java, Indonesia, near a highway connecting Jakarta and Bandung through Puncak. Located a ...

complex, a residence for former Dutch Governor Generals of the

, and a country retreat of former president,

Sukarno Sukarno (6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of the Indonesian struggle for independenc ...

. Since the Dutch colonial rule, and before the

Enhanced Indonesian Spelling System Indonesian orthography refers to the official spelling system used in the Indonesian language. The current system uses the Latin alphabet and is called (EYD), commonly translated as ''Enhanced Spelling'', ''Perfected Spelling'' or ''Improved Spel ...

was established, the town name was spelled ''Tjipanas''.

History

The area already had a history of village dwellers since

Sunda Kingdom The Sunda Kingdom ( , ) was a Sundanese people, Sundanese Hindu kingdom located in the western portion of the island of Java from 669 to around 1579, covering the area of present-day Banten, Jakarta, West Java, Lampung, and the western part of ...

and

Banten Sultanate The Banten Sultanate (, ) was a Bantenese people, Bantenese Islamic trading sultanate, kingdom founded in the 16th century and centred in Bantam (city), Banten, a port city on the northwest coast of Java; the contemporary English name of both w ...

, long before the time the Presidential Palace was erected by a Dutch landlord named Van Heots in 1740. Out of interest in the local hot springs, during the administration of

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

Governor General

Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff Gustaaf Willem, Baron van Imhoff (8 August 1705 – 1 November 1750) was a Dutch colonial administrator for the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He served as Governor of Ceylon from 1736 to 1740 and as Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies fr ...

(1743-1750), a health building was constructed near a hot spring. The reputation of the area for clean, fresh and cool mountain air led to the building being made into a resort for the Dutch Governor Generals. From 1744 to 1761 a ''Buitenhospitaal'' (''outdoor hospital'' or ''villa-hospital'') existed in Cipanas. It was a kind of Spa that served as a health-resort. The wooden hospital was built on a hillside surrounded by woods and valleys. It was staffed by a chief surgeon (''opper-chirurgijn'') and a second in charge surgeon (''onder-chirurgijn''). The building had two floors, a covered walkway, a bathhouse and a pharmacy and was in demand by many sick people, or inmates of the hospital. However, to arrive in the mountains people took a difficult and strenuous journey of 4 days and the capacity of the hospital was too small to become a relief for patients. By Resolution of 30 June 1761, the resort-hospital was then closed. The palace was used by Commissioner-General Leonard Pietr Josef du Bus de Gisignies, his secretary Carel Sirardus Willem Graaf van Hogendorp (1820-1841),

Herman Willem Daendels Herman Willem Daendels (21 October 1762 – 2 May 1818) was a Dutch military officer and colonial administrator who served as governor-general of the Dutch East Indies from 1808 to 1811. Early life Herman Willem Daendels was born on 21 October 1 ...

(1808-1811) and

Stamford Raffles Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British Colonial Office, colonial official who served as the List of governors of the Dutch East Indies, governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816 and lieut ...

, who would later become the founder of colonial

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. During their terms, they employed hundreds of workers in plantations around the palace.

Climate and ecology

According to Köppen-Geiger climate classification, Cipanas has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...

(''Af''), which borders with

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring c ...

(''Cfb''), owing to its persistently high atmospheric humidity and annual rainfall of 2896 mm., in addition to its relatively high elevation. The average annual high temperature in Cipanas is around , while the annual low temperature is . Locally present fauna include the

silvery gibbon The silvery gibbon (''Hylobates moloch''), also known as the Javan gibbon, is a primate in the gibbon family Hylobatidae. It is endemic to the Indonesian island of Java, where it inhabits undisturbed rainforests up to an altitude of . It has been ...

Javan surili The Javan surili (''Presbytis comata'') is a vulnerable species of Old World monkey endemic to the western half of Java, Indonesia, a biodiversity hotspot. Other common names by which it is known by include gray, grizzled or Sunda Island surili; ...

and Sunda thrush, and flora include '' Elaeocarpus macrocerus'', '' Alstonia spatulata'', '' Mangifera gedebe'' (a member of the

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

family), '' Stemonurus secundiflorus'', and '' Thoracostachyrum sumatrana'' (a large

sedge The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as wikt:sedge, sedges. The family (biology), family is large; botanists have species description, described some 5,500 known species in about 90 ...

). The ''Taman Bunga Nusantara'' (Nusantara Flower Garden) within the area is a popular tourist attraction. The garden, extending over , hosts a wide variety of worldwide flora, and possesses a maze, giant clock and tower. Close to Cipanas, in Cibodas in the Pacet district, is the ''

Kebun Raya Cibodas Cibodas Botanical Garden (, KRC) is a botanical garden on the slopes of Mount Gede, located in the Cibodas subdistrict of West Java, Indonesia. It was operated by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), which now has been transformed into ...

'' (Cibodas Botanical Garden), an extension of the ''

Kebun Raya Bogor The Bogor Botanical Gardens () is a botanical garden located in Bogor, Indonesia, 60 km south of central Jakarta. It is currently operated by the National Research and Innovation Agency. The garden is located in the city center and adjoin the ...

'' (Bogor Botanical Gardens) in

Bogor Bogor City (), or Bogor (, ), is a landlocked city in the West Java, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide.

Demographics

The ethnic makeup of Cipanas is mostly

Sundanese people The Sundanese (; ) are an Austronesian people, Austronesian ethnic group native to Java in Indonesia, primarily West Java. They number approximately 42 million and form Ethnic groups in Indonesia, Indonesia's second most populous ethnic group. T ...

. The majority of the residents are

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, with the total Muslim population as of 2013 being 99,657 (93.8%),

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Christians 881 (0.83%),

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

Christians 603 (0.567%) and others 5,117 (4.8%).

Gallery

File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Het buitenverblijf van de gouverneur-generaal in Cipanas TMnr 3728-814.jpg,

Lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

of Cipanas Palace in the 19th century.

Governor-generals used the

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

as residence (by Josias Cornelis Rappard) File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Militaire kolonne passeert een brug in de omgeving van Tjipanas TMnr 10029047.jpg, Dutch military convoy passes a bridge near Cipanas c. 1946 during

Indonesian National Revolution The Indonesian National Revolution (), also known as the Indonesian War of Independence (, ), was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during A ...

File:The front page of the Cipanas Palace in Cianjur Regency.jpg,

Façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

File:Side view of Cipanas Palace in Cianjur Regency.jpg, alt=Side view of Cipanas Palace in Cianjur Regency, Side view of the palace

References

External links

* * * * * * {{cite web, url=http://www.gomapper.com/travel/where-is/tjipanas-jawa-barat-located.html, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202124446/http://www.gomapper.com/travel/where-is/tjipanas-jawa-barat-located.html, url-status=usurped, archive-date=February 2, 2014, title=Where is Tjipanas in Jawa Barat, Indonesia Located?, accessdate=Jan 29, 2014 Cianjur Regency Villages in West Java Populated places in West Java