Walla… I’m back! Let’s continue our journey at Kota Tua (Old City), Jakarta. I’ll show you the inside of Museum Fatahillah (officially known as Museum Sejarah Jakarta). It was the city hall (Balai Kota) in the 17^th century. The Dutch called it Stadhuis.

To get inside this museum, we should buy the ticket for IDR 2,000 each (about US$ 0.2) *murahe ga karuan* I think the management should rise the price. I’m sure that they can’t cover the operational cost with those cheap ticket sales. *ga nyucuk kata org jawa*

Btw, we can buy a small booklet which tells about the whole history about Kota Tua square for IDR 5,000. Around the museum, there’re several Canon, left by the Dutch colonial. Si Jagur is the famous one; this gun powder canon is believed to give fertility to the people/couples who want to have children. *err..  pic below is NOT si Jagur, I mistakenly took the wrong photograph of it, doooh*

Museum Fatahillah is a two storey building. The first floor displays many archeological discoveries around Jakarta and Indonesia. Every chamber tells a brief story about the beginning of Jakarta since the pre-historical era till now. Including the famous paintings from Raden Saleh and Basuki Abdullah.

I’m interested with Prasasti Tarumanagara, it’s a huge river stone with foot prints and Javanese characters on it. I wonder, that’s the way the ancient people show their existence (or even narcissism) Compares to what we do today, setting our status on FB on Twitter (much much easier than crafting on a river stone right? )

The building was build under influence of Dutch architecture. But I also found out some Chinese and Javanese relic around the site. Like this lion, the red colored stairs and this wooden baby crib (kinda spooky y’know, I really hope that the crib doesn’t swing itself in the middle of the night… HYAAAAA)

It’s quite easy to walk inside the first floor since they made pathways for visitors. Up to the second floor, we can watch outside the window and enjoy the Fathillah square.

There’s not much to see on the second floor, most of the chamber is showing large wooden table and chair here and there. I guess, this floor was used to be a meeting room for the Dutch.

In the backyard, there’s a statue of Hermes – naked Well, in the Greek mythology, Hermes is the God of Fortune. This metal statue, originally located at Harmoni Bridge, but then moved to Museum Fatahillah for safety reason. This statue was a present from Karl Stolz to Dutch government who let him ran his business in Batavia.

Right behind the statue, there’s an underground prison. It’s a very dark and stink half rounded room, just as high as 3 / 4 of the human height, so we have to duck down inside it. Very uncomfort for prisoners, plus .. their feet were tied up to iron balls to limit their movement. Enough? Nay, the prison secured by double metal bar *si pitung dijamin kagak bisa lolos!!*

Done with Museum Fatahillah; Venus, Jen and Angel took me to Pecinan (China Town). Surprisingly, we found a unique church that shaped just like a Chinese temple. Save your curiosity, continue on the 3^rd part…

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