Central Java has a lot of beautiful places destined to be tourists’ destinations. This site has revealed some of these places for you to choose from which can be included into your top list to visit this holiday. Semarang, the capital city of Central Java, itself saves some interesting places to stop in, including Kota Lama and Lawang Sewu.
There are many reasons to open up why people want to get there all this time, including their need of visiting exotic historical places and buildings.

Kota Lama is an area where you can see a number of old, historical buildings built in the 18th century. Years ago when the Dutch occupation was still here as authority, this was the area of trade and government center. At that time, Kota Lama was physically separated from its surroundings by solid forts, showing people that this was
special area for contributing the Dutch government. Little Netherland name was appearing following the situation where local residents hardly occupy the area. The typical Netherland buildings could also be a sign why such name was given to the area.

Those forts were ruined following the changing times and authorities. We only could enjoy around 50 old buildings on the Kota Lama spot these days. All of those are located side by side with the Semarang’s trade center area; as a result visitors will see a crowded and busy area.

It’s nearly impossible to visit all those 50 old buildings during your short vacation, isn’t it? Add to that, there are only five buildings that give you the real impression of old, historical buildings. Check the list out to grab the interesting pieces to explore.

Old, Historical Lighthouse

This old light house was built in 1884 related to a plan of developing Semarang as a port city. This was the only lighthouse built in Central Java area at that time by Dutch Government. Just like any other lighthouse you saw in many places, this lighthouse is tall, rather big and look strong.

Tawang Railway Station

This station was built to serve Semarang-Jogja-Solo transportation route, and it is still located in Pengapon Street till now. The architect JP DE Bordes tried to give people a small place to let them transit while transporting from one city to others. We know it, ruining an important building like this railway station is possible, but really consume so much effort. Therefore, this building is still being used as its main function that time.

Tawang Polder

Tawang Polder is a place representing a system of water protection, preventing water overflowing coming to Kota Lama. This polder was built perfectly with embankment, floodgate, water pump, collector channels, and retention pond. It’s been becoming a big pond offering a number of functions to the city society like an open space where they can have their good time and the water itself is much beneficial to watering the city’s plants.

Blenduk Church

This is a landmark of Semarang, located at the Let. Jend Suprapto street 32. People call it Blenduk church, because of its architectural design using a big dome for the roof, in which in Javanese such shape is called “Blenduk.” Thanks to the church’s architect HPA De Wilde and Wwestmas, for making such memorable building that took a big part in Christianity history in Semarang.

Lawang Sewu

Lawang Sewu is a Javanese designation for an old building that was located at Tugu Muda roundabout. How can they call it Lawang Sewu? This building was built with a thousand big doors and windows in which in javanese Lawang means door and Sewu means a thousand. Lawang Sewu was firstly used as the head office of Nederlands-Indische Spoorweg Maatschapij (NIS). Along with the changing authorities this building has different functions, following what the authority needed at that time.

By Amin Cheng