Jakarta may reconstuct gate of former castle

Ida Indawati Khouw, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

History tells us that the city of Jakarta, formerly known as Batavia, began from a castle at the estuary of the Ciliwung river, now around Pasar Ikan in the old Kota area. Of course it is difficult to find the castle's remains.

Parts of the castle's original stones can still be seen at the Ministry of Finance office at the Lapangan Banteng area in Central Jakarta. The site was supposed to be the palace for the governor general during the Dutch colonial era.

But now there is good news about the castle for Indonesians, especially Jakartans.

Its gate still exists. The stone portico is being preserved at the Western Australia Geraldton Maritime Museum.

How could this be possible?

In 1629, Batavia, a Dutch ship -- containing the prefabricated portico for the castle -- sank off the Western Australian coast. It took 334 years before the shipwreck was found, including the portico.

It took six years of painstaking work to reconstruct over 100 sandstone blocks, which involved sending the stone samples for analysis to German geologists.

"Geological comparison showed a high probability that the Batavia blocks were quarried from lower Cretaceous outcrops in Obernkirchen (Germany). This is evident in the architectural style of the Batavia portico facade, which has been fashioned in the Tuscan order of architecture," said Geoff Kimpton in his paper.

Kimpton -- a technical maritime construction expert at the Western Australia Maritime Museum, Fremantle -- failed to attend the International Symposium on Stone Portico, Reconstruction of Batavia Gate held recently at the Maritime Museum in North Jakarta due to the heated political situation here.

Batavia, capital of the Netherlands East Indies, was built in 1619 on the ruins of the local Jayakarta kingdom. During the construction, materials were imported from the Netherlands but no specific references have been located in archives concerning the commissioning of a shipment of prefabricated stone blocks on the ship Batavia, Kimpton said.

Early illustrations of the castle by Pieter van den Broecke (1634) provided the first clues as to the destination of the 37- ton cargo.

"A bird's-eye view of the construction in 1629 shows a central opening in the sea wall of the castle surrounded by scaffolding, as if awaiting the arrival of the portico.

"It was thus assumed that the Batavia cargo was intended for the water gate," Kimpton said.

For years, the seven-meter by five-meter reconstructed gate was a monumental feature of the Batavia Gallery at the Western Australia Maritime Museum, Fremantle. In the middle of this year, the stones were transferred to the Shipwrecks Gallery of the new Geraldton Maritime Museum.

The poor attention to Indonesia's heritage -- where many old buildings have been damaged and artifacts have gone missing -- has not prevented Jakarta's culture and museum agency from striving to get the gate's replica brought here and placed in the Maritime Museum.

The next question is: how much will the project cost, especially the shipping of materials from Australia?

"We admit that existing heritage sites are poorly maintained. It's understandable if the project raises questions," said Robert Silalahi, former head of the museum and restoration agency who is involved in the replica project.

"But the stone portico is a part of our history and it has an important significance."

Indeed, the symposium was meant to give the green light on the project.

"I hope we are not to be blamed for the effort. Therefore, we invite historians to share their knowledge and to point out the most appropriate location," said Candrian Attahiyat, head of the agency's archeology division.

But Uka Tjandrasasmita, professor of history at the University of Indonesia, said: "I think it's not appropriate to place the replica at its former site which is now a slum. It's just a replica, location isn't something essential."

The agency would like to place it at the gate of the Maritime Museum, but maritime history expert Adrian B. Lapian warned of possible damage caused by irresponsible people at the location.

"It would be much better to place it inside the museum as a part of the museum collection."