Jakarta Old Town, also known as Old Batavia, is a small area located in West and North Jakarta with the Sunda Kelapa port as the gateway to Old Batavia during the Dutch colonial era.
Jakarta Old Town, also known as Old Batavia, is a small area located in West and North Jakarta with the Sunda Kelapa port as the gateway to Old Batavia during the Dutch colonial era. Once dubbed the “Jewel of Asia” and “Queen of the East” by Europeans in the 16th century, Old Batavia played a very important role in commerce due to its strategic location.
Jakarta Old Town is indeed a silent witness to the city’s rich history. It all started when Fatahillah seized the Sunda Kelapa Port in 1526 and changed its name to Jayakarta. Then in 1619, Jayakarta was attacked by the Dutch East India Company under the lead of Jan Pieterzoon Coen.
The Dutch then built a new city over the ruins of Jayakarta and named it Batavia. Indigenous people of Batavia, who were descendants of various ethnicities in Indonesia, were called Batavian’s and later known as Betawi.
The city of Batavia was designed as a defense fort surrounded by walls. The streets were divided into blocks separated by a canal, with gorgeous mansions that belonged to rich spice merchants and lots of big warehouses. When Japan occupied the country in 1942, Batavia was renamed Jakarta.
In 1972 the then Governor of Jakarta Ali Sadikin issued a decree that officially made the Old Town area a heritage site in order to preserve the city’s architectural roots. However, after the governor resigned from his post not enough was done in protecting this legacy from the Dutch Colonial era.
Had Sadikin’s vision come true, Old Town would have been a cozy area with tree-shaded cafes, cobblestone streets and charming colonial-style buildings. But as of now the area reeks of sewage coming from the canal and on every corner there are warehouses that have fallen into disrepair, not to mention the chaotic bumper to bumper traffic that will dishearten anyone.
One of Sadikin’s projects in Old Town that has managed to see the light of day was the restoration of Fatahillah Square. Before it was restored the square was used as a crowded bus station. In 1972 Italian designer Sergio Dello Strollogo designed the restoration based on a drawing from United East India Company official Johannes Rach that showed a fountain in the center of the city square. During the restoration the water pipes were found intact and the fountain was successfully restored.
Located at the heart of the Old Town area, the 1.5 hectare Fatahillah Square is right in front of the Jakarta Historical Museum, also known as the Fatahillah Museum, that was restored by the city administration in 2007.
The square is pretty much the only decent place for people to hang out in Old Town. It usually becomes lively in the afternoon when people gather and street musicians start to entertain. It is especially crowded on weekends with families, heritage enthusiasts, photographers and students flocking to the area.
For entertainment, there are bicycle rental services at the square. Staying true to the theme, these bicycles are old bicycles dating back to 1945 called Ontel bicycles. The rent is Rp 10,000 for 30 minutes.
The famous heritage café named Café Batavia is another spot worth a visit in the Old Town area. Opened in 1993, the café resides in an early 19th century building that served as a residence, warehouse and office. It offers a unique décor as well as a historical atmosphere to add to its extensive international menu.
For those who don’t mind the stench from the filthy canal, a visit to the Kota Intan Drawbridge is a must in order to fully soak in the historical atmosphere. The bridge dates back 300 years and has been renamed five times. Located on Jalan Kalibesar Barat in West Jakarta, the bridge has been connecting the Pinangsia and Roa Malaka areas since it was first built in 1628.
The bridge is called different names by the different generations. It was originally called Engelsbrug, which means the English Bridge, because in the 1600s the bridge connected the English fortress on the west side to the Dutch fortress on the east side.
It was destroyed in the battle between the Mataram Kingdom and the Dutch and then was rebuilt in 1630 and transformed into a drawbridge. During that time the bridge was dubbed Hoenderpasarbrug or the Chicken Market Bridge in reference to a nearby poultry market.
Another renovation in 1655 resulted in a new name, Het Middelpuntbrug or the Central Bridge. The last renovation occurred in 1938 when the bridge was renamed the Juliana-Bernhard Bridge as tribute to the engagement of Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard.
The last name change happened after Indonesia gained its independence in 1945. The bridge has since been called Kota Intan or the city of diamonds. The name referred to a watchtower at the west side of a Dutch fortress that had a diamond-shaped logo.
To complete the Old Town experience, visit the Petak Sembilan market that is located in the Chinatown area of Jalan Kemenangan. It’s an open air traditional market with impossibly narrow alleys behind crooked houses that sells virtually everything from daily necessities such as vegetables, fruits, meats, beverages to pirated DVDs, Chinese traditional medicine and dubious items such as skinned frog legs and live bugs that are sold right next to an open sewer. It’s chaotic, dirty and very real.
The Petak Sembilan market has been around since the 19th century. It started when one or two of the residents in the area began to sell food from their homes. Soon almost everyone in the area started to sell something and thus a market was created. The market starts at the crack of dawn and by 7 am is already in full swing.
With its horrible traffic, filthy river and numbers of seedy spots, strolling around in Old Town might not bring out the romantically nostalgic feeling one gets when strolling down heritage sites in other countries but it certainly has its own charm, as proven by the flock that does come to visit weekend after weekend.
Text by Patricia Ivana
http://www2.baliandbeyond.co.id
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