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| Jakarta History Museum, well known as Fatahillah Museum |
[ NOTE: pics are taken
from my collections in 2009 and 2012, and the tenses used are in Present since
this is a delayed post that I wrote on the spot :p ]
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| Full Team |
Sunday as usual..means no wakeup
alarm and no bathing activity in the early morning, and it’s a family dayyyy!
so today I, hubby, Athar, my brother and his girl went to visit Fatahillah Museum
at Kota Tua. Jakarta’s road on bright sunday morning is such a heaven for me –
no traffic at all. We went from Depok at 10 am and arrived here at 11.30 am. We’re
also having lost on our way but thanks to “Mbah” GoogleMap that really helps to
guide our direction on the right way and time. Unlike my last time visit in
2009 that the museum was closed, today is really crowded, they’re having an event and at the same time,
the Fatahillah Museum is being renovated too.
Before I tell much further stories, it’d be better if we go flashback to
many centuries ago, memorizing the history and the glory era of both Fatahillah
Museum and Kota Tua in the past.
The History
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| A Glance History of Fatahillah Museum |
The Jakarta History Museum or
also known as Fatahillah Museum building was built around 1620 as the former
city hall, then constructed in 1707 by the city government and inaugurated in 1710 by Governor General
Abraham Van Riebeeck. The building then became the administrative headquarters
of the Dutch East India Company which later by Dutch Colonial Government. The
architecture adapted the European architectural style (classic baroque style) which
responded to the tropical climate, such as: high pitched roofs, portico, large ventilation and windows openings, etc. The building contains 37
rooms and some cells located beneath it which were notoriously used as dungeons,
Diponegoro was ever imprisoned here around 1830. Most prisoners, both Dutch and
Indonesian rebels were barbarically executed on the square in front of the
building, known as Fatahillah Square and people could look down and watch them
from the windows above. In the center of the square is located a fountain used
as a water supply during colonial era. In 1974 the Jakarta History Museum was
reinaugurated by the Government of DKI Jakarta as the center for collection and
conservation for all kinds of cultural heritage related to the history of
Jakarta. Nowadays the Jakarta Government has organized some regular attractions
involving local communities and their cultures to bring more activities to the
Old Batavia square.
My Imppression
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| Messed Up Display |
My first imppression when entering
the Fatahillah Museum building is dirty, lack of maintenance, improper interior
& furniture layouts and quite hot (it was because both the cross
ventilation and air circulation don’t work well due to almost all windows/openings
are tightly closed), quite surprising uhmmm....far away from what I thought
before.
It’s such a pity since the museum has really great
priceless collections but the government doesn’t seem paying any attentions to
maintain, rejuvenate and improve both the building and the collections. You
could see any dusts everywhere, even on the collections themselves. The borderline
between the collections and visitors area isn’t well defined, then visitors can
easily touch, grasp, open, even sit on the fragile collections. No wonder I could
see any of them are not in complete conditions (such as: broken keyhandle,
missing of the cabinet parts, cracks on the statue, etc). The display information
boards are only made by awful laminated paper. The layout design of the old
furnitures in the room is really messed up and isn’t well arranged at all,
there’re many messy fabrics here and there that are not exactly clear whether
they’re intended to cover the collections or just being put aside the collections.
My hands are really "itchy" for rearranging all the messy things.
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| Abandoned Old Building |
My big question then appears, why
does the museum in Indonesia usually look like spooky or haunted house rather than
contribute to the function as a museum itself. Many abroad countries could improve their museum appearances with some interesting ideas that attract visitor to come,
to learn, and to become tourism magnet of their country.
Dutch architects are wellknown by
their great and detailed works of art. One that’s impressing, no matter in the
land of colonization or in their own homeland, they always use the same high
qualified standards to design and create the building. Many old buildings in
Indonesia were the masterpieces of great famous dutch architects
(unfortunately, not many people knew it), let say Albert Aalbers-designed Savoy
Homann Hotel, Thomas Karsten–designed Pasar Gede Harjonagoro, Interior of Pasar
Johar Semarang and other cityplanning projects in Indonesia, Henri Maclaine Pont–designed
Institut Teknologi Bandung building, CP Wolf Schomaker–designed Villa Isola UPI
and Preanger Hotel, J Gerber–designed Gedung Sate, and etc. Lots of knowledge such as exterior and interior architecture, construction, siteplanning, etc that we could gain from them.
Hopefully the today’s grow rapid developments also concern about the contextualization of the environment, so the new development could stand side by
side with the existence of old buildings, not ruin them even become a strength
to each other.
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| Broken Part of The Old Building |
After exploring all the museum building, now it’s
time to visit the basement (The best part that you shouldn’t miss when visiting the
old buildings is their basements!). Unlucky me...the basement is closed due to
being renovated.
As I mentioned above that the basement is ex jails/cells in the colonization period, a
common thing among the old buildings I think that the basement function turns
into it in the war period).
Here are some of the photographs taken by me during my visit
in 2009 and 2012. Please enjoy them and better with a cup of hot tea! ^^
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| Classic Atmosphere (except the man talking with cellphone) |
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| Black and White Facade |
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| Berkibarlah Benderaku |
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| Rest Room with Purple Light |
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| Rest Room with Yellow Light |
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| Menu Book of Cafe Batavia |
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| An Indonesian Traditional Food, Called Nasi Goreng |
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| Wow a Giant Glass of Ice Cream with Firecrackers! Quite Enough for 4 people! |
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| Looks Yummy!! |
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| The View Behind The Window |
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| The Classic Bar and The Mercedes |
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| The Monochrome Facade |
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| Merah Putih |
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| At The Corner.... |
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| Need More Maintenance |
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| Lots of Old Sweet Memories in the Bar |
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| Sepeda Onthel |
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| The Front Facade of Fatahillah Museum |
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| Green Window Frames |
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| Kota Tua Jakarta |
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| Behind The Door |
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| Blue Sky and Green Leaf |
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| Classic Mercedes Benz |
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| The Balcony |
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| PKL Around the Museum |
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| Black and White |
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| Wall of Memories |
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| My Lil' Athar Was Playing Around the Museum :) |
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| The Detail Carving of Vintage Bed |
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| a Vintage Bed |
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| The Painting of Governor General Daendels |
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| The Stairs Looked From the Hole |
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| a Vintage Baby Cradle From Year 1620, Owned by Sultan of Ternate as a Gift From VOC |
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| Cracked Statue of Governor General PA. Van Der Parra |
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| My Family |
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| a Vintage Key Handle |
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| a Vintage Glass Lamp |
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| Why is there a hydrant on the Display? |
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| Most Visitors Are Youth |
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| The Display Room |
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| a Vintage Lamp, still works! |
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| a Cannon from 18th Century |
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| a Classic Building Miniature |
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| The "Missing Glass" Cabinet |
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| Could Anybody Translate? |
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| a Cupid? |
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| an Angel Brought Me Here |
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| Statue Attached to the Wall |
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| Locker for Samurai |
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| The Entrance Ticket, quite cheap! |
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| My Brother with His Girl |
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| Beautifully Carved Wooden Accessories |
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| A Queen Size Vintage Bed |
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| a King Size Vintage Bed |
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| Arm Chair with Louis XIV Style from 18th Century, Used for the Member of Hindia Council |
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| Vintage Chair from 18th Century, Made of Teakwood and Rattan |
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| Poor Display |
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| a Classic Cabinet, Made of Teakwood in Batavia |
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| Classic War Equipments |
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| Wooden Construction |
