Observatorium Bosscha — Attraction in West Java

A must-visit in Bandung, Bosscha has almost everything you can get as a travel destination: historical site, oldest space observatory with buildings and some telescopes from the Dutch colonial era; small museum; green, spacious open space with fresh air and a bit cold temperature; helpful & knowledgeable staffs from the security persons to the staffs who are mainly from the students and lectures from the Astronomy Faculty in ITB (Bandung Technology Institute); and unbelievably cheap entrance ticket.

Whether you are a solo traveller, or travel with small group or family, this place will suit you. Take your time to visit the main telescope with its elevated floor, and opening dome. The guide is usually an astronomy student and delivers the story in Indonesia but will easily take questions in English.

However, the direction to go to the observatory is not really clear. The road is small with very few road signs which you could easily miss out.

The observatory was built up in the highest location above the city of Bandung, donated by a generous Dutch businessman. For decades, Bosscha enjoyed the clear sky as one of the key space observatory in the equator.

Unfortunately, uncontrolled housing development in the upper side of Bandung is making space observation less and less effective due to the light pollution from the residential areas close the observatory, especially during the dusk and dawn time.

The observatory is campaigning to put a cap over every lamp, hence reducing the upward lighting, but I don't think the rich people who owns the luxurious houses & villas are even care about this.

The government is planning to build up new national observatory in West Nusa Tenggara, in the Central Indonesia, five hours flight from Bandung.

Bosscha will remain a historical site with functioning telescopes albeit with much less role in the global network of space...

Lovely place for family. During the first meeting of the Nederlandsch-Indische Sterrekundige Vereeniging (Dutch-Indies Astronomical Society) in the 1920s, it was agreed that an observatory was needed to study astronomy in the Dutch East Indies. Of all locations in the Indonesia archipelago, a tea plantation in Malabar, a few kilometers north of Bandung in West Java was selected. It is on the hilly north side of the city with a non-obstructed view of the sky and with close access to the city that was planned to become the new capital of the Dutch colony, replacing Batavia (present-day Jakarta). The observatory is named after the tea plantation owner Karel Albert Rudolf Bosscha, son of the physicist Johannes Bosscha and a major force in the development of science and technology in the Dutch East Indies, who granted six hectares of his property for the new observatory.[1]

Construction of the observatory began in 1923 and was completed in 1928. Since then a continuous observation of the sky was made. The first international publication from Bosscha was published in 1922. Observations from Bosscha were halted during World War II and after the war a major reconstruction was necessary. On 17 October 1951, the Dutch-Indies Astronomical Society handed over operation of the observatory to the government of Indonesia. In 1959 the observatory's operation was given to the Institut Teknologi Bandung and has been an integral part of the research and formal education of astronomy...

Observatorium Bosscha, located in Lembang, West Java, is Indonesia’s oldest and most iconic astronomical observatory. Built between 1923 and 1928 by Dutch philanthropist Karel Albert Rudolf Bosscha, it was established to advance astronomy in the Dutch East Indies. Positioned at 1,310 meters above sea level, it offers excellent views of both northern and southern skies.

Managed by Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) since 1959, Bosscha has played a crucial role in astronomy education and research in Indonesia. It houses several telescopes, including the historic 60 cm Zeiss Double Refractor, ideal for observing binary stars and planets.

Today, Bosscha welcomes public visitors through guided daytime tours and limited night sky observations. Despite growing light pollution from Bandung, it remains a vital center for astronomical outreach and science popularization. A symbol of Indonesia’s scientific heritage, Bosscha continues to inspire curiosity and deepen public understanding of...