Quite literally named ‘Old Town’, Jakarta’s historic centre is found at Kota Tua, where remnants of a colonial past stand as reminders of the city’s past life as the Dutch-run Batavia. At the very heart of Kota Tua is Batavia’s old city hall, an imposing-yet-impressive building that epitomises colonial architecture at the time, in front of what is now known as Taman Fatahillah, or ‘Fatahillah Square’.
For newcomers and visitors, Kota Tua is where to begin one’s exploration into Jakarta’s turbulent 500-year history. What some might find puzzling at first is that Kota Tua is found in West Jakarta today, instead of Central Jakarta, but as a port city, it was significant that Batavia’s administrative centre be close to the north coast. As such, running down the west-side of Kota Tua is a canal known as Kali Besar, a canal-way constructed by the Dutch to allow small ships to bring goods and trade inland from larger vessels moored in the Sunda Kelapa harbour.
Resulting in the banks of Kali Besar bustling with commerce, old Dutch buildings have survived even to this day. These include the Dutch East India Company warehouses from the mid-17th century (now the Maritime Museum) near Sunda Kelapa harbour; the Toko Merah, or ’Red House’, built in 1730 (now Rode Winkel Coffee Shop); down to the end of the canal where one finds the grand buildings of the Museum Bank Indonesia (previously De Javasche Bank) and Museum Mandiri (previously Netherlands Trading Society Headquarters). Through these dominating structures, a historic atmosphere permeates, leaving no wonder as to why this area of Jakarta was given the name Kota Tua.
This atmosphere is certainly most felt at Fatahillah Square, where the entire square is enclosed and surrounded by such buildings. In 1970, then-Governor of Jakarta Ali Sadikin officially declared Taman Fatahillah as cultural heritage of the city. This included the official renaming of the square to honour a historic commander of the Sultanate of Demak, Fatahillah, who retook Sunda Kelapa from the Portuguese in the 1527 century —only for the Dutch to take control in 1619. As part of this cultural preservation, the buildings around the plaza were restored and repurposed into their own unique museums, making it one of Jakarta’s best destinations for historic and cultural discovery.
First and foremost is of course, the city hall, or Stadhuis: the colonial piece de resistance running the entire length of the square’s northern stretch. Designed and built in 1710 by the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) after the Paleis op de Dam, the building retained its function as the city hall until 1913. In 1974, the building appropriately became ‘Museum Sejarah Jakarta’, or the Jakarta History Museum, which takes visitors through the city’s history in artifacts, colonial clothes and preserved rooms; from as far back as the prehistoric period to Jakarta’s ‘previous iterations’: Jayakarta, Sunda Kelapa, Batavia.
Opposite the city hall building is the Kota Post Office, the historic headquarters of Indonesia’s post service, Pos Indonesia, and prior to that the Dutch Post- en telegraaf kantoor. Built in 1929, it reflects a more modern colonial architecture, or ‘New Indies Style,’ distinct from the Stadhuis.
The palatial structure of the old Paleis van Justitie, the old court of justice with its boldly neo-classical Doric columns, stands imposingly on the east of the plaza – now the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics, displaying works of legendary Indonesian painters like Raden Saleh and Affandi. Finally, once an old Dutch church, one can visit the Wayang Museum, displaying the nation’s rich array of traditional puppets.
This thriving plaza is certainly Jakarta’s go-to tourist destination, and as such is made vibrant with street performers, quirky vendors and little market areas. One of the area’s most popular dining hotspots is of course Cafe Batavia, a charming restaurant inside a two-storey colonial building, showcasing a distinct ‘saloon’ layout, complete with antique furnishings and vintage accoutrements.
