Batavia as seen through a photographer's lens

Batavia as seen through a photographer's lens

Batavia in Nineteenth Century Photographs

By Scott Merrillees

Archipelago Press, Singapore, 2000

Rp 630,000

JAKARTA (JP): Given the growing interest in the country's
colonial heritage, any new addition to the literature of the
capital's history is welcome.

Scott Merrillees, a collector researching the 19th century
topography of major cities, presents us with a new book with rare
photographs of 19th century Batavia.

It offers us no less than 155 of the earliest photographs of
Batavia, including the city's topographical and architectural
landscape, not to mention some fine engravings and beautiful
drawings of Batavia from the 1850s to the mid-1890s.

Its contents are divided into four chapters according to the
districts (sectors) existing at the time: downtown Batavia, the
Molenvliet (Gajah Mada/Hayam Wuruk) area, Uptown Batavia
(Weltevreden) and the Tanjung Priok Port area.

Each specific place, building and organization appearing in
the photographs has been meticulously researched and provided
with enough data to make it possible for the reader to have a
"feel" for its cultural background. The economic, political and
social factors that are provided are important in evaluating the
pictures and bringing them to life.

The fact that these early photographs were taken by Europeans
unavoidably paints 19th century Batavia in a European
perspective, although it cannot be denied that this does not
diminish the book's value as a source of information and delight.

The opening part focuses on the old city of downtown Batavia,
starting with fine topographical pictures and photos of the Old
Port as a main point of entry to Batavia. It then takes us
strolling inside the walls of the old city; most parts of the
walls, though, were demolished in 1808 to 1809, more than half a
century before the photos were taken.

The reason for presenting these photographs in terms of
"inside" and "outside" the old city wall, even after most of it
was demolished, must be because it is relevant to understanding
the way Batavia developed.

From 1619 until 1808 to 1809, most administrative, commercial
and judicial activities of the city were concentrated inside
those walls, originally built as a means of defense for the
Dutch. Its demolition, then, marked an era of greater security,
which made the development possible.

Other photographs show Kali Besar (meaning Great River), a
straight stretch of the Ciliwung River. During almost the entire
Dutch colonial area, Kali Besar played a central role in
facilitating shipping activities along the river. In these
pictures, though, we can enjoy the tranquility of the vast open
spaces that existed alongside the river and streets.

The area outside the walls was for those who wanted to escape
the unhealthy conditions of Batavia's walled city and could
afford to do so.

These pages tell us mainly about the lives of the Chinese
population of Batavia, who were free to live anywhere they wanted
until what is known as the Chinese Massacre in October 1740.
Growing out of a combination of events, it was one of the
blackest incidents in Batavia's history. It took many years for
Batavia's economy to recover after the Chinese, who controlled
much of Batavia's trade and industry, fled in terror to other
areas of Java. After their return they settled in a then new
Chinatown in what is now the Glodok area.

Molenvliet, which means Mill Stream and is pictured in the
second part of the book, was the main link between Batavia's old
and new city, one of the key topographical features in 19th
century Batavia. The straight three-kilometer-long manmade canal
facilitated the supply of wood taken from forests around Tanah
Abang and brought by boat into Batavia's walled city. The
photographs show an ambiance of almost rural tranquility.

The third part shows Rijswijk (Jl. Veteran) and Noordwijk (Jl.
Juanda) as the social heart of Uptown Batavia. An elite shopping
and business district, the area was also among the most
fashionable residential districts in the second half of the 19th
century, though it remained sparsely populated until the
beginning of the 19th century.

Rijwijkstraat, the French neighborhood of Batavia, had a large
number of French shopkeepers. Some of the photos picture
Koningsplein (King's Square); today called Medan Merdeka, it was
named Champ de Mars by Governor-General Herman Willem Daendels
and was used for military exercises (only in 1818 was it renamed
Koningsplein). After the middle of the 19th century grand
residences began to dominate the four sides of Koningsplein,
making it the most fashionable address in Batavia.

In later years, Batavia's newest elite residential
neighborhood, Weltevreden and the southern environs (Menteng and
surroundings in Central Jakarta) became the most exclusive
residential area of Batavia, with high lots of considerable value
even then. It is interesting to note that land in the area is
still of immense value today.

Tanjung Priok, the city's new port built in later years, is
located nine kilometers east of Sunda Kelapa, the original port
of Batavia. Considered a suitable location for a modern deep-
water harbor, this relocation of Batavia's port was essential for
the Dutch to help them compete with British Singapore.

The appendix informs about the history of photography in
Batavia, specifically about the topography of the city as it was,
as well as about the photographers.

Claiming to be the most comprehensive photographic record ever
published of Batavia, this is indeed a book of magnificent
photographs and fine drawings. It also provides thorough
information on topographical conditions in the past.

With this book we are invited to retrace an almost vanished
part of Jakarta's history and return to old times as if watching
a movie. As the writer says: " .... the photographs became my
personal time machine or window into the Jakarta of another age,
spanning the period from the late 1850s to the mid 1890s".

If any criticism has to be made of such an excellent work, it
is that the book is almost purely an architectural record of 19th
century Batavia. Readers seeking a look, however fleeting, into
the daily lives of its ordinary residents will be disappointed.
But then that is not its aim.

-- M. Paramita/H. Pratiknyo