Semarang City, the capital of Central Java that was emerge since 16th centry has many historical buildings, like Lawang Sewu, the Chatedral and shophouses in Chinatown. One area that has so many historical buildings, especially colonial buildings is Semarang Old City. I have the opportunity to take some photographs in that region last December, which I would like to share with my dear readers.Old City lays in northern part of Semarang, roughly from Berok Bridge to Tawang railway station. During the Dutch colonial era, this area was the downtown or the city center of Semarang, where all important government and public office was situated. Old City was built since Semarang- Kaligawe was handed over by Amangkurat II to Dutch East India Company in 15 January 1967 as a reward for suppressing Trunojoyo uprising.
The oldest building in Old City is Blenduk Church. Built in 1753 by Dutch community, it is the oldest Christian Church in Central Java. The name Belnduk came from its half sphere dome, which is called 'blenduk' in Javanese. The dome itself actually was built during huge renovation in 1894, At that moment the two minarets side by side the entrance with four Classical Doric columns was also built. Blenduk Church is still in use today by West Indonesia Christian Church, and is well preserved.
Across the curch there is formerly Nilmij Insurance office, designed by renowned Dutch architect Thomas Karsten, which is an important figure in Colonial Archtecture. This building was the first modern construction in Semarang and also the first to use a manually operatrd lift. Now the building is still occupied as Jiwasraya Insurance office.
In the vicinity of Gereja Blenduk stands a two-story European-style building known simply as Marba, which many consider the most beautifully designed in the area. The red-brick building, currently used as an office for a political party, was formerly a European-only supermarket.
The buildings in Old City mostly built in early 20th century, so there was a lot of influence from modernism in their architectural style. This combined with art deco, art nouveau and Chinese style has made this buildings unique. The tropical climate, with its high humidity, intense heat, torrential rain also dictates the appearance of these buildings. Sometimes the term colonial architecture was used to mention the style of the buildings. In fact we cannot find such style in their origin country, the Netherlands. It only flourished in Indonesia and south east Asia, one of the many eason why these buildings should be preserved.
As an architectural artefact these buildings is very precious because they have very beautiful details, as seen in these photos of doors and windows. People do not make wooden doors, iron bars and stained glass like these anymore because they are too intricate and cost a lot of money.
Despite of that consideraton, it is sad that Old City Semarang is not well maintained, a lot ot its buildings crumbled an ruined. Homeless people take these once prestigious buildings as their shelter. Local government actually have done some effort to improve the quality of the environment by laying pavement blocks in this area, with the aid from World Bank fundings, but that was not enough.
The restoration, rennovation or revitalitation of these buildings costs a lot of money and demands special expertise. The private ownership of the buildings creates more obstacles to the effort. There is Old City Foundation, an organization with its mission to help preserving the of Old City of Semarang. They need support from the citizen of Semarang to fulfill its mission.
