In 1948
my grandfather built a
watergarden complex which he gave the name Tirtagangga.
The religious function of the spring,
the cool climate and the scenic beauty of the surrounding hills inspired him to
build recreational watergardens for himself and his people. Making watergardens
of all sorts had always been his hobby. He not only did all the designing
himself, but he also used to work together with his labourers, digging in the
ground, standing knee deep in the water, dirty with mud. It was always a great
surprise for the visitors after some time looking at the work in progress to
discover the tiny figure of the Raja among the workers. People liked it and it
was one of his many charming traits.
The construction of the watergardens
had been severe interrupted by the eruption of the Mount Agung
which lasted from February to September, 1963. A series of eruptions occurred
during those months. Lava and hot ash from the mountains had killed all
vegetation. The grounds had not been affected by the lava flows which found
their way along the valleys to the east and to the west of the complex.
However, what had been built thus far was for the greater part destroyed by
earthquakes of more and less severity during all those months. In addition to
the natural disaster vandalism done by people who fled their villages and had
no food had taken its heavy toll. The Raja family took refuge to saver place on
the island. Tirtagangga was abandoned and fell pray to looting. Everything that
could be taken away and sold such as furniture, windows, tiles, pipes, chinese
porcelain, flower pots, statues and so on disappeared in the course of time.
When after about ten months the
calamity was over the Raja returned, only to find the beautiful garden in
ruins. There was no money for rebuilding the ponds and structures. With the
introduction of the Land Reform Bill the Rajas, like all the other great
land owners, had lost their means for extravagant undertakings. The
rehabilitation of Tirtagangga could only be done in a very frugal and haphazard
manner.
Since 1979, after a long duty period
abroad, my father supervised the rehabilitation
of the garden. With a slight increase of the entrance fees in 1985 a little bit
could be accomplished. With the help of the local government the upper swimming
pool was rehabilitated. Little by little the watergardens are coming into a
better shape.
As my father become older, he was less
capable in supervising the garden. In the nineties deterioration started again
as very little maintenance was executed. During a walk in 1999, while
overwhelmed by the majestic Banyan tree of the
garden, I received a vision to transform the
distressing state into the one of splendour. This vision was the reason why I
found the foundation, drawn
up the masterplan, build
this website and seek for donation to be
able to restore the garden until the present shape.
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This might be the view towards the area of
the watergarden before it was built. The tree at front of the Banyan tree must have been die or cut, as it
stood approximately on the spot of the present Versailles pond. The hill
behind Tirtagangga was less covered by vegetation than it is today. |
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1950s
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+/- 1952. The Balekambang (floating building).
Notice that the southern part of the pond around the building was not yet
completed. |
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+/- 1955. Overall view of the gardens. The
building on the left was my grandfather's
vaforite verandah. Except for the entrance gate, there was no border betwen
the gardens and the rice-fields. |
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+/- 1955. View from the
upperwest swimmingpool towards the Seraya hills. The beauty of the
surrounding emphasizes the beauty of the gardens. |
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+/- 1957. Approximately the
same view, in completely different sphere. It shows the large candi bentar
of the entrance gate at the background. Notice the large porcelain plates
decoration. |
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+/- 1957. The elephant north of the middlewest
swimmingpool. Many of the sculptures were painted with beautiful colours. |
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+/- 1957. View towards the
fountain tower, surrounded by classical sculptures and large decorated
octagonal flower pots. |
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+/- 1958. My grandfather (3rd from
left) with a priest and family members at front of the fountain tower. |
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1977. View towards the upperwest swimmingpool. The gardens were still
in ruins. The statute in the middle was the backside of Krisna's cart,
where He announced the famous Bhagawadgita to Arjuna during the
battle of Kurusetra in the hinduism Mahabharata epos. |
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1977. View to the middlewest swimmingpool. On the left the two barongs
which were colourfull and decorated with pieces of mirror. A crocodile was
kept in the box on the right. |
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1988. One of the first rehabilitation works was to let water running
again from the fountain tower and the various sculptures, like the one that poured
from the mouth of the pig, then still with a broken nose. |
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March 1988. Construction of simple metal fences allows collection of
fee in the middlewest swimming pool, which was necessary to be able to
continue rehabilitation works. |
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25th October 1990. A view as my grandfather would
love it: Tirtagangga was smarten up and enjoyed again by many people. Notice
that the top of some trees was cut to allow view from the higher part of the
gardens to the rice fields and the sea. |
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