Semarang
A Dutch Colonial Port Quarter Restored Since 2019, A Railway Headquarters Used As A Japanese Prison, And A Chinese Temple Honouring A Muslim Admiral In A City That Is Sinking · Semarang, Central Java
Semarang is the north-coast port the Dutch ran Central Java from, and its OLD TOWN - KOTA LAMA - is a compact grid of colonial warehouses and offices around the domed BLENDUK CHURCH of 1753, left to rot for decades and restored from 2019 into something genuinely pleasant to walk. LAWANG SEWU, the Thousand Doors, is the 1904 headquarters of the Dutch East Indies Railway Company and one of the finest buildings in Indonesia - AND IT WAS USED BY THE JAPANESE AS A PRISON AND INTERROGATION SITE, and fought over in 1945. Its basement was for years sold to visitors as a haunted attraction, which sits badly against what actually happened there. AND AT SAM POO KONG, a Chinese temple complex stands where ZHENG HE, THE MUSLIM ADMIRAL OF THE MING FLEET, is said to have landed - venerated in a Chinese temple, by Javanese Muslims among others - a syncretism that is genuinely unusual even in a country used to layering its religions.
Semarang, Central Java, Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia
SEMARANG IS A CITY OF NEARLY TWO MILLION. KOTA LAMA IS OPEN PUBLIC SPACE, pedestrianised in parts since the 2019 restoration, busy in the evenings and at weekends. LAWANG SEWU keeps daytime hours with an entry fee; THE BASEMENT TOUR IS SEPARATELY TICKETED and is marketed on its ghost stories. SAM POO KONG charges an entry fee with a higher rate to enter the inner temple areas, and is busiest around Chinese New Year and the annual Zheng He procession. THE CITY IS SINKING AND FLOODS - the local word is rob, tidal flooding that recurs on the north coast and affects Kota Lama in particular. Semarang has an airport, and trains from Jakarta and Surabaya stop at Tawang station, itself a fine old building.