HISTORICAL PLACES
LAWANG SEWU
Lawang Sewu ("Thousand Doors") is a landmark in Semarang, Central
Java, Indonesia, built as the headquarters of the Dutch East Indies
Railway Company. The colonial era building is famous as a haunted house,
though the Semarang city government has attempted to rebrand it.
The
complex consists of several buildings, two main ones named A and B and
two smaller ones named C and D, on Pemuda Street. A building faces the
Tugu Muda roundabout. building A features large stained-glass windows
and a grand staircase in the center. There was also once a tunnel
connecting A building to several other sites in the city
The
B building is located behind A building. It is three stories in height,
consisting of offices and a ballroom. The building also has a basement
floor that is kept partially flooded to serve to cool the building
through evaporation.
In front of A building stands a monument to five employees killed during the Indonesian War of Independence.
Lawang
Sewu was designed by Cosman Citroen. It was designed in New Indies
Style, an academically-accepted term for Dutch Rationalism in the
Indies.
Construction
began in 1904 with A building, which was completed in 1907. The rest of
the complex was finished in 1919. it was initially used by the
Nederlandsch-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij, the first railway company
in the Dutch East Indies.
This is the basement of B building, said to be haunted by ghosts. Lawang Sewu is said to be haunted, with many tourists visiting to see
the ghosts. Among the ghosts reported to inhabit the establishment are a
Dutchwoman who committed suicide inside and a man with a ball and chain
wrapped around his leg. In late 2013 the Semarang city government
announced plans to eliminate the building's "spooky image" in order to
attract more visitors. This was to encompass a reimagining of the site
as a place for social and cultural activities, supported by renovations
of the building.
