Kota Tua, The Old City in Jakarta

Kota Tua, Jakarta is an area of Dutch colonization inheritance which was well-known as Batavia in the 17th century. At Kota Tua area you can see old buildings with architecture style influenced by the Dutch or European architecture style, Chinese and even some of them with combination of Dutch and Chinese architecture. Some of the old buildings at Kota Tua area occupied as museums by the governor of DKI Jakarta. Kota Tua is one of a very interesting place or area to visit when you travel to Jakarta since it’s a center of historical tourism object in Jakarta.
Interesting places or tourism objects you could see at Kota Tua, Jakarta are including Jakarta History Museum (which is also called as Fatahillah Museum), Wayang Museum, Fine Art and Ceramic Museum, Bank Mandiri Museum, Bank Indonesia Museum, Jakarta Kota Station (is also called Beos), Maritime Museum (Museum Bahari), Sunda Kelapa Harbor, Kota Intan Bridge, Syahbandar Tower, Batavia Café, Batavia Hotel and other old buildings.
History
 Kota Tua, Jakarta, was the pioneer of the current Jakarta City. It was started from a small port at the mouth of Ciliwung River in about centuries ago. The port city was then developed became a busy international trading center. Journals from European journalists in the 16th century said that there’s a city, named Kalapa (Kelapa in Sundanese called kalapa, means coconut), seemed as the main port for a Hindu Kingdom named Sunda, with a capital of Pajajaran, located near to the current location of Bogor. Portuguese was the first fleet from Europe that came to the Kalapa Port.
Kalapa, the port city was then attacked by Demak Kingdom, a kingdom in Kalapa neighborhood, under the leadership of Fatahillah. Kalapa Port was successfully conquered on 22nd June 1527 and since then the name was changed from Sunda Kalapa to Jayakarta, which means city of glory or victory. The date of 22nd June 1527 was then celebrated as the birthday of Jakarta City.
The Dutch came and taken away Jayakarta in the end of 16th century under the leadership of Jan Pieterszoon Coen. The Dutch changed the name of Jayakarta became Batavia and constructed buildings with the architecture style as they had in their country. In the Japanese colonization time from 1942 to 1945, the name of Batavia was changed to Jakarta (Jayakarta).
Other Interesting Places Near to Kota Tua - Jakarta
Glodok area which is the China Town of Jakarta is about 1-2 km away from Kota Tua. Jaya Ancol Dreamland Park which has several amusement arenas such as Dunia Fantasy, SeaWorld Indonesia and Gelanggang Samudera is located at about 3 to 5 km away from Kota Tua.

Tips
1. If you’re a lover of historical tourism and is or interested in visiting Jakarta then Kota Tua is one of the object you must visit in Jakarta.

2. If you plan to visit other tourism objects at Kota Tua area by walk, it’s recommended to start your visit there since morning to avoid the stinging heat of the sun. You may need to wear a cover for your head like hat or umbrella and wear comfortable footwear. Besides by walk, you can also try to ride bicycle ojek to go along Kota Tua.

3. When you visit Kota Tua Jakarta in the morning, you may better go around the Kota Tua area first then continue by visiting the museums in the area at noon time.

4. You can visit Kota Tua Jakarta by riding personal vehicle or taxi. You can also alternatively ride Trans Jakarta Busway from the first corridor, which routed from Blok M to Kota. If you ride the TransJakarta Busway, you can get off at Kota Station which is where busway from the first corridor ended. Kota Station is part of Kota Tua area. Info:

Syahbandar Tower at Pasar Ikan Jakarta

Syahbandar Tower is located at the side of Jakarta Gulf Beach, next to the Maritime Museum and Sunda Kelapa Harbor. The current building of Maritime Museum was previously occupied as VOC’s (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) spicy warehouse. VOC was a Dutch company which managed the trading activities on both sea and land for the interest of Nederland. Nederland constructed Syahbandar Tower to guide the traffic of ships that was coming for spicy trading at Sunda Kelapa Harbor.
History
Nederland Indies government constructed Syahbandar Tower in 1839 to support the spicy trading and delivery activities from Sunda Kelapa Harbor which was know as Batavia City at that time. The building of Syahbandar Tower had a width of 32 meters (4x8 meters) and height of 12 meters, and the yard was equipped with several cannons which faced to the west and east side.  For the trading administration before the delivery of spicy to countries in Europe, Nederland Indies government constructed another two buildings facing the Syahbandar Tower.
Other Interesting Places Near to Syahbandar Tower
Other interesting places near Syahbandar Tower are including Sunda Kelapa Harbor, Maritime Museum, Jakarta History Museum, Wayang Museum, Fine Art and Ceramic Museum, Bank Mandiri Museum, Bank Indonesia Museum, Jakarta Kota Station, Kota Intan Bridge, Batavia Café, Batavia Hotel, and other old buildings. Glodok area which is like the China Town of Jakarta is only 3-4 km away from Syahbandar Tower. You can also find Jaya Ancol Dreamland Park with many amusement facilities like Dunia Fantasy, SeaWorld Indonesia, and Gelanggang Samudera in just 3-5 km away from Syahbandar Tower.

Tips
1.  If you’re a history lover and is visiting or in Jakarta City at the moment, then you may find Syahbandar Tower at Kota Tua Jakarta as an interesting object. Syahbandar Tower is located next to Maritime Museum and Sunda Kelapa Harbor.

2.  Since the age of Syahbandar Tower has reached more than a hundred years and the construction was made of wood, it then makes the tower start to be decayed. It’s suggested to be really careful when you step on the stairs of Syahbandar Tower and avoid stepping on the stairs in group.

3. You can visit Syahbandar Tower by personal vehicle or taxi. Alternatively you can ride TransJakarta Busway from the first corridor with route from Blok M to Kota Tua. Kota Station is the last station from the first corridor of TransJakarta Busway. Syahbandar Tower is about 3km away from Kota Station. To reach Syahbandar Tower from Kota Station you can ride bicycle ojek, bajaj, taxi or even by walk.

 To see the pictures of Syahbandar Tower.... Info:

BEOS in The Name of Jakarta Kota Station

You may wonder why Jakarta Kota Station is also called as Beos. BEOS is the abbreviation of Bataviasche Ooster Spoorweg Maatschapij (East Batavia Train Enterprise). In the glorious time of Batavia, BEOS station was also known as Batavia Zuid (South Batavia Station). Jakarta Kota Station was designed to have 12 railroads which is still utilized until now.
History
Jakarta Kota Station (BEOS) was constructed around 1870, and the building was then closed and renovated in 1926 and became a building like what it looks now. The station was officially announced to be utilized on 8th October 1929 by General Governor Jr. A.C.D. de Graef who was governed at Nederland Indies from 1926 to 1931. The architect who built Jakarta Kota Station was Frans Johan Louwrens Ghijsels, a Dutch architecture engineer who was born in Indonesia. Jakarta Kota Station was a magnum work of Ghijsels that was expressed as Het Indische Bouwen, which means combination of modern west technique and structure with the local traditional characteristic. The design of Ghijsels was impressed as simple but yet with a high aspiration. Jakarta Kota Station (BEOS) was then decided to be one of culture preserve in Indonesia in 1993.
Interesting Places Near to Jakarta Kota Station (BEOS)
There’re still many other interesting places near Jakarta Kota Station you may able to visit as well. Those places are including Bank Mandiri Museum, Bank Indonesia Museum, Jakarta History Museum, Wayang Museum, Fine Art and Ceramic Museum, Maritime Museum, Sunda Kelapa Harbor, Kota Intan Bridge, Syahbandar Tower, Batavia Café, and Batavia Hotel. Glodok area which is known as the China Town of Jakarta is only 1 km away from Jakarta Kota Station. Ancol Dreamland Park, a theme park which has Dunia Fantasy, SeaWorld Indonesia, and Gelanggang Samudera is only 4 – 5 km away from Jakarta Kota Station.

Tips
If you are a history tour lover then Jakarta Kota Station is one of the objects you should visit when you visit Jakarta, Indonesia. The architecture design was said to be the best one at its age.

To visit Jakarta Kota Station (BEOS) you can use personal vehicle or taxi. Alternatively you can also ride TransJakarta Busway from first corridor, which lane is from Blok M to Kota Tua. Kota Busway Station is the last station of the first corridor’s Busway. Jakarta Kota Station is just at the cross side of Kota Busway Station.

Address : Jl. Taman Stasiun Kota No. 1, Jakarta Barat, Telp. (021) 6928515 Info:

Kota Intan Bridge at Old City Jakarta

Kota Intan Bridge in Old City Jakarta,was constructed in the 17th century by the Dutch government to connect the West Kali Besar street and East Kali Besar street. Kota Intan Bridge located at Kota Tua Jakarta which was known as Batavia on the time of Duta colonial. Kota Intan Bridge was made of wood and equipped with leverage to get the lower side of the bridge up when there was ship or boat passed by. In the Dutch colonial time the ships which deliver spicy from hinterland to the warehouse would pass by Kota Intan Bridge.

In the government of Indonesia, Kota Intan Bridge was restored and was made to be permanent; hence it can’t be leveraged anymore. The reason behind because at the moment there’s no mo ships pass trough the bridge. It was told that a famous painter Vincent Van Gogh had visited Batavia before and painted a painting of Kota Intan Bridge.

Kota Intan Bridge had several names before it finally named as Kota Intan Bridge. After being constructed by Dutch government, the bridge was named as English Bridge (Engeise Brug), as at that time not far away from the bridge; a fort that belonged to England was under construction. Later on the name of the bridge was changed to Central Bridge, which estimated due to the management of the bridge which was control by Nederland Indies government. In the 1900th year the bridge’s name was changed again to be Chicken Market Bridge (Hoenderpasarbrug) due to there was a busy chicken market next to the bridge. In 1938, in the government of Queen Juliana, the bridge was renovated and the name was changed to be Queen Juliana Bridge (Ophaalsburg Juliana). Last, the name was changed to Kota Intan Bridge due to near the bridge there’s a castile which name was “Diamond” (diamond = intan in Indonesian Languange).

Other Interesting Places Near to Kota Intan Bridge
You can also find other interesting places near Kota Intan Bridge such as Jakarta History Museum, Wayang Museum, Fine Art and Ceramic Museum, Bank Mandiri Museum, Bank Indonesia Museum, Jakarta Kota Station (Beos), Maritime Museum, Sunda Kelapa Harbor, Syahbandar Tower, Batavia Café, Batavia Hotel and other old buildings. Glodok area which is like the China Town of Jakarta is only 1-2 km away from Kota Intan Bridge. You can also find Vihara Samudra Ancol, Jaya Ancol Dreamland Park with many amusement facilities like Dunia Fantasy, SeaWorld Indonesia, and Gelanggang Samudera in just 3-5 km away from Kota Intan Bridge.

Tips for going to Kota Intan Bridge

1.If you’re a history lover and is visiting or in Jakarta City at the moment, then you may find Kota Intan Bridge at Kota Tua Jakarta as an interesting object.

2.If you plan to visit Kota Intan Bridge and other interesting places at Kota Tua area by walk, it’s recommended to start your visit there since morning to avoid the stinging heat of the sun. You may need to wear a cover for your head like hat or umbrella and wear comfortable footwear. Besides by walk, you can also try to ride bicycle ojek which can easily be found at Kota Tua area.

3.You can visit Kota Intan Bridge and Kota Tua Jakarta by riding personal vehicle, Bajaj or taxi. You can also alternatively ride TransJakarta Busway from the first corridor, which routed from Blok M to Kota Tua. If you ride the Trans Jakarta Busway, you can get off at Beos or Kota Station which is where busway from the first corridor ended. Kota Intan Bridge is about 700 meters away from Beos or Kota Station. Info: