Bintaran developed parallel with the coarse of time. Starting from a dwelling place of Prince Haryo Bintoro during the rule of Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono, this area became an Indische housing area in 1930s.
Bintaran, from the House of Pangeran Bintoro to Indische City
Similar to Kotabaru, Bintaran was an alternative dwelling place for Dutch people who lived in Indonesia. It grew when Loji Kecil area could not accommodate the inhabitants anymore. Physically, the area that you can reach by walking eastwards from Gondomanan crossroad did not grow as fast as Kotabaru. One of the factors was the location that is still close to Loji Kecil so that various facilities could be accessed easily.
Before becoming an Indische dwelling place, Bintaran was known as the place where Ndalem Mandara Giri functioning as the house of Prince Haryo Bintoro, one of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat Kingdom descendants. The growth of Bintaran as an Indische dwelling place was predicted to begin in 1930s signed with construction of house, facilities such as church and even prison. Generally, Dutch people who lived in Bintaran were those working as officers and workers at sugar factory.
Similar to other Indische kampongs, when YogYES visited, Bintaran was decorated with buildings in characteristic European-style architecture. Nonetheless, the characteristic of the buildings in Bintaran area is different from the characteristic of the buildings in Loji Kecil or Kotabaru. The yard of the house in Bintaran area is wider, while the verandah is smaller with many pillars; exterior window shutter is in the form of blind and the interior window leaf is decorated with glasses.
Architecturally exotic, historical building in the area is certainly Ndalem Mandara Giri. The architecture of the house was combination of Javanese and Dutch. Javanese characteristics can be seen from the hall of which materials were shipped specially from Demak in 1908. Meanwhile, the characteristics of the Dutch building can be known from the vast space and high walls with characteristic Dutch big windows having two window leaves.
After Prince Haryo Bintoro left this place, other descendant of different kingdom lived there. The wide hall of the house had been functioned as keris exhibition room, even when the house was emptied since 1997. Now, this building that you can find easily on the T-junction after you turn left from Sultan Agung road functions as the office of Karta Pustaka, and Indonesian-Netherlands institution.
Other historical buildings can be found near Ndalem Mandara Giri. One of them is Sasmitaloka Jenderal Soedirman building on the left side of Bintaran road. In the past, the building founded in 1890 was used as the dwelling place of finance office of Paku Alam VII castle named Wijnschenk. The building once was utilized as official house of General Soedirman, then the dwelling house of Tukul Company after the independence.
Meanwhile, Biology museum on Sultan Agung road used to be functioned as the house of Paku Alaman local military supervisor. The house of a Dutch named Henry Paul Sagers now functions as Fire Department office. Another historical building is the Dutch prison that currently functions as Wirogunan prison.
Like Indische dwelling place in general, Bintaran also has church facility. Interestingly, Bintaran church was founded based on the idea of Javanese people who did not feel comfortable with the way Dutch people said their prayer. H. van Driessche. SJ, a Dutch-Indonesian person became the construction coordinator of the church that is located at the south end of Bintaran road. The naming of this church that was built in 1931 to become Saint Josef Church related to Father Driessche's prayer to Saint Josef when he felt it difficult to find a location for the church.
In addition to the building and history, Bintaran now also offers other enchantment, namely its culinary. One of the famous ones is Bakmi Kadin (the main menu is fried and boiled noodles) that is located in West Bintaran.
Text: Yunanto Wiji Utomo
Photo & Artistic: Agung Sulistiono Mabruron
Copyright © 2007 YogYES.COM
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