Sriwedari Park's glory days now just a distant memory
Kartika Bagus C., The Jakarta Post, Surakarta
For Surakartans, Sriwedari Park is not only a city park. Its function went beyond that until it changed with the times.
When celebrating its centenary on Jan. 1, people realized just how much the park had changed from its original concept when it was built by the King of Surakarta Hadiningrat Pakoe Boewono X, in 1902. The king established the park to provide a public space for Surakartans and the surrounding countryside in the province now known as Central Java.
Sudharmono, a 51-year-old historian of the Surakarta-based State University of Sebelas Maret (UNS), said the reason for building the park was to enable Pakoe Boewono X to gain support from his citizens. At that time, the King's power only covered Surakarta city as it is today. Other parts of the former Surakarta kingdom, including Boyolali, Sragen, Klaten, Kartosuro, Sukoharjo and Wonogiri, were taken over by the Dutch colonial administration.
"Sriwedari functioned as a public recreation center and a Javanese cultural development center, besides remedying people's disappointment over the fading away of the Surakarta King's authority," he said.
"The presence of local people in the Surakarta royal palace to show great respect for the King symbolized his remaining authority and became a cultural means of overcoming the Dutch regulation that banned people from gathering in the palace."
Located in the heart of Surakarta, or some 10 kilometers west of the Kraton (palace) Surakarta Hadiningrat, the 61,739 square meter Sriwedari park used to serve as a zoological conservation center, a zoo, an art and cultural center and a handicraft center for Surakarta, when the city had a population of only 110,000. The park also offered a transit venue for train passengers traveling between Purwosari and Kota railway station.
The palace's observer of culture, Kalinggo Honggopuro, said Sriwedari was larger and better designed, with curving roads and encircled by casuarina trees interspersed with mango and canary trees.
There was a shelter, known as a wimbayasa, located in the middle of the park, near a cluster of sekar tanjung trees, on which various types of bird like white egret, wild and other ducks were perched. Pens for keeping animals like deer and mouse deer were found in the southern part of the park.
An enclosure for elephants belonging to the palace was situated south of a recreation pond in the eastern part of the park. Cages for panthers and tigers were found to the north of the pond, as were those for monkeys and orangutans to the west.
After wayang orang (a traditional play) filled the regular entertainment schedule in the park from 1907 (1836 in the Javanese calendar), Sriwedari park management provided a special stage for the play every Saturday evening. It was followed by the establishment of an open-air movie theater and a building for a ketoprak show (a Javanese drama depicting historical or pseudo- historical events) in the compound, which took place every evening.
Other performances only took place in accordance with the palace agenda, including Sedekah Rebutan (people grab the offerings for the King), firecracker festivities, ludruk (East Java folk theater) and dhoger (Central Java folk dance performance). All attractions were staged to entertain the people at that time.
However, 100 years after its establishment, Sriwedari has not left a trace of its former status as a venue to which Surakartans flocked to enjoy entertainment and learn about the environment. Several buildings inside the park have been damaged due to poor maintenance, not to mention the parceling off of land in the compound for business purposes by private companies.
Chief of the palace officers Dipokusuma said the Surakarta administration had to decide what to do with Sriwedari, although the palace would prefer to return it to its function as a public park.
"If Sriwedari is returned to its former function, then it must be accessible to the public. To fulfill its role as a public place, then it must be free of charge too."
The solution is to turn three main elements -- Graha Wisata (multifunction hall), the recreational park and restaurant Boga -- into the main sources of financial support.
"Therefore, we need to forge good cooperation with the local administration, the palace and other parties to meet this objective," Dipokusuma said.
Nowadays the Sriwedari compound is home to, among others, the Surakarta Tourism Board office, Solo movie theater, a performing arts center, a food court, a stadium (the venue for the first National Games in September 1948) and the Radya Pustaka museum (the oldest in Indonesia).