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Thursday, January 15, 2004
lawang sewu (part 1)
i'll start with pics & words from my trip to center java. i love travelling and more than that, i enjoy arranging my travel schedule, looking for places i should not miss while i'm at one place. so, based on what i'm learning through some readings, here are some places center java has to offer...
 starting with the old town of semarang, where we can still find many old dutch buildings in classical styles. this building, created by 2 dutch architects, has art deco style which developed in europe during 1850-1940s. it was designed by following the architecture of corner building - with its twins 'gothic style' tower on the left & right of the main gate. it was built in 1902 & officialy used on 1907. its distinctive characteristics are its many windows & doors - that's why semarang people gave the building its nickname : "lawang sewu" (thousand doors). actually it was designed with many doors & windows to avoid the hot climate of semarang.
in its days of glory, this building was used by the dutch railway company. later after indonesian independence it was used as indonesian railway office, later as military office, and then as city administration office. now it has been empty for quite some time and the walls are all covered with moss as u can see from my pics below.
  
when there was 5 days fighting in semarang in 1945, a big fight happened here between indonesian young soldiers and japanese soldiers. many people died and to commemorate the heroes, people built "tugu muda" nearby.
this building has become one of semarang's landmark. it is now being preserved as a cultural heritage by the semarang city administration. yet it is abandoned and left without rehabilitation. guess a lot of $ needed to take care a building as big as this one. or perhaps the rumour is true... that it is haunted with several spirits trapped inside....?
stelly @ 10:23 AM
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