Bandung — Histories
How Bandung came to be, in a short timeline, plus the buildings and monuments where you can still see it.
Timeline
- 25 Sep 1810Colonial
Daendels makes Bandung the regency capital
Governor-General H.W. Daendels issues a decree founding Bandung as the capital of the Bandung regency in place of Krapyak. The city celebrates 25 September as its birthday.
See: Alun-alun Bandung - 1884Colonial
The railway arrives and Braga booms
The Batavia–Bandung railway opens and the town core grows fast. Jalan Braga fills with shops, banks and cafés, becoming the Indies' leading European shopping street.
See: Jalan Braga - 1 Apr 1906Colonial
Bandung becomes a municipality
Governor-General J.B. van Heutsz grants Bandung gemeente (municipal) status. The town then covers about 900 ha; by 1949 it has grown to about 8,000 ha.
- 3 Jul 1920Colonial
The Technische Hoogeschool opens
The colony's first engineering college, in buildings by Henri Maclaine Pont, opens with a single department. It becomes the Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) in 1959.
- 27 Jul 1920 – Sep 1924Colonial
Work begins on Gedung Sate
The first stone is laid for the colonial Department of Government Enterprises, designed by J. Gerber's team. About 2,000 workers finish the main building in September 1924.
See: Gedung Sate - 16 May 1929Colonial
The Geological Museum opens
The Art Deco Geologisch Laboratorium on Rembrandt Straat (now Jalan Diponegoro) opens as Bandung hosts the Fourth Pacific Science Congress.
See: Museum Geologi - 24 Mar 1946Revolution
Bandung Lautan Api (Bandung Sea of Fire)
Given a British ultimatum to leave, Indonesian fighters deliberately burn the southern part of the city as they withdraw. The song 'Halo-Halo Bandung' remembers the event.
- Apr 1955Independence
The Asia–Africa Conference
Delegations from 29 countries, with leaders such as Nehru, Nasser, Nkrumah and U Nu, meet at the former Concordia club, now Gedung Merdeka. The talks pave the way for the Non-Aligned Movement.
See: Gedung Merdeka · Hotel Savoy Homann - 1966Independence
Saung Angklung Udjo is founded
Udjo Ngalagena and his wife Uum Sumiati open a bamboo workshop and stage in Padasuka to keep Sundanese arts, and especially the angklung, alive.
See: Saung Angklung Udjo - 1968Independence
Haji Isan creates batagor
A vendor from Purwokerto selling bakso tahu in Gang Situsaeur, Bojongloa Kidul, fries his unsold dumplings so they won't spoil. Neighbours ask for more, and batagor is born.
- 31 Dec 2014Modern
The Alun-alun is rebuilt as a green park
Mayor Ridwan Kamil opens the renovated town square: a park of synthetic grass laid on the roof of a car park, with a children's playground, a library and free wifi.
See: Alun-alun Bandung - 17 Aug 2026Modern
The renovated Alun-alun reopens
The city reopens the renovated town square to the public on 17 August 2026, marking the 81st Independence Day with a festival and competitions.
See: Alun-alun Bandung
Heritage sites
Jalan Braga
The 1920s 'Parijs van Java' promenade of Art Deco shopfronts, now full of cafés and car-free on Sundays.
Colonial landmark & museum2Gedung Sate
The 1920s seat of West Java's governor, named for the satay-skewer spire on its roof, with a museum inside.
Museum & conference hall3Gedung Merdeka
The Art Deco former Concordia club where the 1955 Asia–Africa Conference met, now a free museum of the summit.
Mosque4Masjid Agung Bandung
The city's great mosque on the Alun-alun, rebuilt in 2001–03 with twin 81 m minarets and a big dome.
Museum5Museum Geologi
An Art Deco geology museum opened in 1929, with fossils, minerals, volcanoes and prehistoric replicas.
Art Deco hotel6Hotel Savoy Homann
A streamlined Art Deco hotel by A.F. Aalbers, finished in 1939, that housed delegations at the 1955 conference.
Cathedral7Katedral Santo Petrus
Wolff Schoemaker's neo-Gothic Catholic cathedral, built in a single year and blessed in February 1922.
Art Deco villa8Villa Isola
Wolff Schoemaker's curving 1933 Art Deco villa for press baron D.W. Berretty, now the UPI university rectorate.