rizky's posts with tag: dutch
|  | the cemetery also known as kebon jahe kober (the ginger garden cemetery) the name 'ginger garden' might refers to the name of the area where the cemetery situated. this cemetery was also one of the first cemetery applying the concept of modern cemetery park/garden with arboretum concept in the world.
however i've been visiting this place for three times, the first time i made my visit here was back in 2003, not much i could recall except for some mixed romatic gloomy feeling about the tombs. the second one was for sure couldn't be deleted from my memory slot, since i had to spend 7 days in hospital bed, and the whole week after, for total bed rest at home for dengue fever, which i'm very much sure i got the bites from the mosquitoes at that place. the 'funny' thing was, actually i went to the place with a friend of mind, and we both suffered from the same fever. the last time i went to the place, things were pretty much messed-up, i got bites, again, thanks god nothing happened up to now, but some sour notes got to be made:
1. some tombs were broken, miss-placed and some even mutilated. i got a very strong impression that this place hasn't been properly well taken care.
2. some huge trees fallen over the tombs, leaving the huge root, and made some old metal tomb fences broken. however nothing has been fixed.
3. admission fees seems to be not well managed, some people who wanders around the museum even collects some money for camera and unofficial entrance fee from visitors. and it certainly caused such inconvenience. |
| | the museum situated near the national monument, monas, formerly was a noble western and dutch high official cemetery built by the netherland indie government in 1759 and was known as the kebon jahe cemetery (ginger garden for direct translation).
there are many noted dutch people buried there including two military men maj. gen. a.v. michiel and maj. gen. j.h. r. kohler, who respectively led wars in bali and aceh, as well as the founder of stovia school of medicine (now the university of indonesia ) h. v. roll. and the jakarta arc bishop 1874 - 1893: a.c claessens.
other important people buried there are olivie mariamne raffles -- wife of british governor general thomas stamford raffles (also the ruller of colonial era singapore).
bearing a skull and crossbones, one headstone at the museum that draws comment is that of pieter erberveld, who died in 1722.
erberveld, who had a wealthy german father and a burmese mother, was sentenced to death for plotting to murder several dutchmen.
It is said the sentence was carried out by the tying of a horse to all four of erberveld's limbs, which, when the animals bolted, tore him apart. this is the reason why the area on jl. jayakarta in central jakarta is called pecah kulit (broken skin).
this obscure landlord was remembered because the dutch made too much of him -- his house in batavia was whacked to the ground, and his head was put on an iron stake to crown a monument neatly scribbled with dutch and javanese scripts saying he was the filthy bastard who wanted to initiate a pogrom of europeans and lead natives to a revolution.
“as a detestable memory of the punished traitor pieter erberveld nobody shall now or ever be allowed to build, to carpenter, to lay bricks, or to plant in this place.
in memory of the 'traitor' pieter erberveld
batavia, 14th of april 1772.”
he was, many believed, only framed, though no one can tell why.
the ghastly monument with his skull disgraced jakarta for around 219 years despite the disgusted indos' appeals to have it removed -- no other testimony about the paranoia of the dutch colonists was that clear.
erberveld had to wait until the japanese soldiers landed in java and the dutch fled to australia before his posthumous torture was ended in 1941. the japanese demolished the monument to dust. |
| | this station located just a few meters from the busy semarang-solo highway near the city of salatiga. from this train station you can walk a few meters to reach the rawa pening or the tuntang power station with water dam at the other way around. as far as i know this train station hasn't back to serve passenger, but some institution is working on it. so at near future we can expect the classy train from ambarawa station to stop at this station.
further info:
http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/ambarawa/stationn.htm |
| | this fine museum situated at the hilly town of ambarawa, central java. here you can experience to ride on classic train like 2 B25 0-4-2T that is still working well. servicing tourist for short trip from ambarawa station to bedono station and to tuntang station at near future for 330 US$/trip with maximum 350 passengers.
for further info:
http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/ambarawa/museum.htm |
| | the 'old town' as most people named the place or the 'oudstadt' in dutch is a colonial quarter situated at the verry heart of the city of semarang, a major port city during the dutch colonialism era. here you can visit the old church of imanuel, an old protestant church consecrated in 1794. more interestingly at inside the domed church you can see the huge music instrument called orgel or the baroque organ. today's interior is the result of an 1895 restoration and practically no changes have been made since then. the church is built on an octagonal plan, the nave encircled by eight large corinthian columns, with four entry porches of greek inspiration. the church is a hybrid of neoclassical and renaissance styles.
at 6pm
too bad not all building has been well restored due to administration and financial reasons, but ironically that creates an interesting photographic objects, just like one of the alley used as a fighting cock market, there some big banyan trees even grows at the wall of those abandoned buildings let the roots attached to the wall like a giant tentacles. somehow remind me to the ruins temple at the angkor complex.
heading north from this old quarter you'll find a polder just in front of the tawang train station, initially it was used to anticipate the rob water, fyi semarang level is a bit below the sea level. that's why some part of the oudstadt is constantly flooded with sea water.
another building that has been well taken care is the building situated just across the street of the domed church beside the ex-nilmij building which now operating as a fine restaurant, 'the ikan bakar cimahi', serving indonesian best cuisine especially grilled fish. though we were spoiled by the glamour of colonial style interior, but the price of the food in this white-gold painted building is absolutely affordable. for a large size grilled fresh water fish; gurame, sauted kangkung, a glass of hot tea and a glass of bandrek (ginger-milk-palm sugar-cinnamon) plus a bucket of rice, only cost me rp 70k (us$8). |
| | for most visitor who wish to visit indonesia, semarang might or mostly will not be listed on the destination list. but this melting pot city is now has become a worth visit destination.
situated at the central northern part of the island of java, this once a major port city during the dutch colonial era offers alot of interesting sites to be visited. oudstadt, means the old city quarter in dutch is one of the major attraction in the city. and gereja blenduk imanuel (the domed church of imanuel) is the landmark of this old quarter.
inside the oudstadt, you can find an art deco building designed by a famous dutch architect, thomas karsten, for the nillmij, a dutch insurance company.
once a nilmij's
this modern building on its time situated exactly across the domed church of imanuel.
herman thomas karsten (1885-1945) was a dutch engineer who gave major contributions to architecture and town planning in indonesia during dutch colonial rule. Most significantly he integrated the practice of colonial urban environment with native elements; a radical approach to spatial planning for indonesia at the time. he introduced a neighborhood plan for all ethnic groups in semarang, built public markets in yogyakarta and surakarta and a city square in the capital batavia (now jakarta).
between 1915 and 1941 he was given responsibility for planning 12 out of 19 municipalities in java, 3 out of 9 towns in sumatera and a town in borneo (kalimantan). he received official recognition from both the government through his appointment to the colony's major town planning committee and by the academic community with his appointment to the position of lecturer for town planning at the school of engineering at bandung. He died in an internment camp near bandung in 1945 during the japanese occupation in indonesia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Karsten
motels and hotels in semarang are available from rp. 50k (us$6) to rp. 2.000k (us$ 220) per night. |
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