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95-year-old swimming pool open to public
Going public: Workers renovate a 95-year-old royal bathing pool in Surakarta, Central Java
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Going public: Workers renovate a 95-year-old royal bathing pool in Surakarta, Central Java. Built by King Mangkunegara VII in 1921 for his twin daughters Partini and Partinah in Balekambang Park, the pool will be open to the public next month.(JP/Kusumasari Ayiningtyas) (JP/Kusumasari Ayiningtyas)
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span class="caption">Going public: Workers renovate a 95-year-old royal bathing pool in Surakarta, Central Java. Built by King Mangkunegara VII in 1921 for his twin daughters Partini and Partinah in Balekambang Park, the pool will be open to the public next month.(JP/Kusumasari Ayiningtyas)
An old swimming pool built by Kanjeng Gusti Pangeran Adipati Arya (KGPAA) Mangkunegara VII in the Balekambang Park complex in Surakarta, Central Java, will be reopened for the public in February.
The pool, dating back 95 years, will be used as a swimming pool for children.
Of late, the swimming pool, located behind the main Partini Tuin swimming pool, has been in a disused state and filled with leaves and garbage.
'We don't like to see the royal swimming pool turned into a garbage dump, so we will operate it once again,' said Balekambang Park Technical Implementation Office head Endang Sri Murniyati recently.
The swimming pool was built together with the Balekambang Park complex on Oct. 26, 1921, by KGPAA Mangkunegara VII for his daughters, GRAy Partini Husein Djayaningrat and GRAy Partinah Sukanta. The park, built with a mixture of European and Javanese design, is divided into a water park called Partini Tuin and urban forest called Partinah Bosch.
'It's a cultural heritage site, and before renovating it, we were equipped with a permit from the Central Java Cultural Heritage Preservation Center [BPCB] in March, 2015,' said Endang, adding that the BPCB had allowed the pool to be repainted and to have its base leveled.
The BPCB has disallowed changing the tiles on the pool floor and walls. Additional decorations, such as a dragon statue and other supporting facilities, will be allowed so long as they do not spoil the pool's original design.
'The floor is regarded as a part of Surakarta's cultural heritage that cannot be replaced,' said Central Java BPCB's Protection, Development and Cultural Heritage Utilization section head Gutomo Sidharta on Monday.
The pool was refurbished in September 2015 and the process was completed in December at a cost of Rp 50 million. The pool is located in front of the Bale Tirtayasa building. It originally had two depths at 1.5 and 2 meters, but it will now have a single depth of 1.5 meters.
The pool will later be filled with between 0.5 and 1.2 meters of water only because it is intended to be used as a children's pool. Later, members of the public who wish to access the pool will be charged Rp 2,000.
The 9.8 hectare Balekambang Park changed its function as a public park between the 1970s and the 1980s. During the 1980s, the area changed into a red-light district filled with squatters, sex workers and thugs.
The Balekambang Park was initially revitalized as a green open space in 2008 by then-mayor of Surakarta Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo.
So far, only around 40 percent of the revitalization design has been completed, mostly the restoration of the buildings in the compound including the art building, the open stage, the Bale Tirtayasa hall and the Bale Apung hall.
Surakarta historian Heri Priyatmoko said that Balekambang Park reflected Surakarta's ambition to maintain its cultured and artistic image.
Balekambang is also rich in local historical information. It is hoped by many that the younger generation can remember and follow in the spirit of Mangkunegara VII and manage and protect Surakarta's rich natural environment and cultural heritage.
'The swimming pool was once apparently a gathering place for residents and equipped with cheap recreational facilities. That part of Mangkunegara VII's dream must be sustained,' said Heri.
