Visit Semarang

Landmark Of Semarang

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 and filming location, though the Semarang city government has attempted to rebrand it.

Lawang Sewu building was built on February 27, 1904, under another name Het hoofdkantor van de Nederlands-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij (NIS Head Office). Initially, office administration activities were carried out at Semarang Gudang Station (Samarang NIS), but with the rapid development of the rail network, resulting in an increase in technical personnel and administrative staff that was not small in line with the development of office administration. As a result, the NIS office at the Samarang NIS station is no longer sufficient. NIS's various solutions include renting several buildings owned by individuals as a temporary solution which adds to inefficiency. 

Moreover, the location of the Samarang NIS station is near the swamp so sanitation and health matters are an important consideration. Then, another alternative was proposed: establishing an administrative office in a new location. The choice fell to the land which at that time was on the edge of the city adjacent to the residence of the Resident. It is located at the end of Bodjongweg Semarang (now Jalan Pemuda), at the corner of Bodjongweg and Samarang Naar Kendalweg (the road to Kendal). NIS entrusted the design of the NIS headquarters building in Semarang to Prof. Jacob F. Klinkhamer (TH Delft) and B.J. Quendag, the architect who is domiciled in Amsterdam. The entire design process was carried out in the Netherlands, and then the drawings were taken to the city of Semarang. Seeing from the Lawang Sewu blueprint it is written that the site plan and floor plan of this building were drawn in Amsterdam in 1903. Similarly, the complete working drawings were made and signed in Amsterdam in 1903. [soucre: wikipedia]