Bogor Palace (Istana Bogor)

Bogor Palace is one of six presidential palaces in Indonesia, occupying a prime position within the Botanical Gardens. The current building dates from 1856, when Dutch Governor-General Herman Willem Daendels rebuilt the original colonial retreat as a formal palace. After Indonesian independence, President Sukarno made it a regular residence and filled it with art.

The palace interior can only be visited by prior arrangement through the government secretariat, and access is not guaranteed. However, the exterior and grounds are visible from the Botanical Gardens fence along Jalan Ir. H. Juanda, and the deer grazing on the palace lawns are one of Bogor's most distinctive sights. The building itself is a handsome neoclassical structure in white and cream.

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The palace grounds are home to a herd of spotted deer — descendants of animals gifted to President Sukarno — that graze freely on the lawns inside the Botanical Gardens. The deer have become such an established sight that they appear on Bogor's city emblem. Sukarno also amassed one of the largest private art collections in Asia here; the palace holds around 2,000 paintings and hundreds of sculptures, many of them erotic works that reportedly shocked foreign dignitaries.

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