Surrounding area

Harbormaster Tower

Situated about 50 meters from the Museum Bahari you can visit the Harbormaster's Tower (or de Uitkijk). The tower once built on the remains of the old bastion Culemborg (named after a Dutch town) acted as a signal box and observation post as from 1839 over the roads of Batavia. Before 1839 the signals with the ships were exchanged from the flagpole at the old VOC-shipyard situated straight behind the watchtower. The tower lost part of her function after 1886 when the new harbor of Tanjung Priok was opened.

It is possible to climb the tower. After climbing a few stairs and reaching the wooden observation post you have a nice view on the traditional wooden ships of Sunda Kelapa. Just with a little imagination you can see the huge VOC ships in the distance on the roads of Batavia waiting for their freight to Europe. From this vantage point you also get a clear view of how the surroundings of Pasar Ikan must have been earlier.

The tower is on a stone's throw from the Museum Bahari and will complete your visit to the maritime museum of Jakarta.


Traditional harbor of Sunda Kelapa

A little further from the Museum Bahari lays the harbor of Sunda Kelapa with her traditional Buginese schooners. This historical harbor, already in use during the Hindu Kingdom of Pajajaran in the end of the 15th century, is nowadays still used by the colorful wooden schooners lying neatly next to each other alongside the quay wall. Here a lot of timber from south Sumatra and Kalimantan is unloaded. For the journey back cement as well as mixed cargo is shipped but loaded all through hands only.

The loading and unloading of a pinisi is quite a spectacle and worth while looking at this. You will see men balancing over just a few thin beams carrying a heavy load on their shoulders loading or unloading the ship. When visiting Sunda Kelapa with only a few people it is well possible, after permission and a small tip, to have a look on board and to have a chat (via a guide) with the crew of the vessel.

Highly recommended!


Old city centre of Batavia

On a fifteen minute ride of the Museum Bahari lays Kota, the old city centre of Jakarta. In this very busy part of town the colonial influences still can be seen to the buildings and the orthogonal street layout. On the eastern side Batavia once was restricted by a city wall and on the western side of the city by the Main River or Kali Besar. Once, the Kali Besar was the main gateway for ships to enter Batavia. On the northern side of the Kali you can see the last Dutch drawbridge. This bridge, recently renovated, was called several names such as Centre Point Bridge, popular known as Chicken Market Bridge and Juliana Bridge. The current name of Kota Intan Bridge refers to Fort Diamond which was the southwestern stronghold of the former Castle Batavia.

The centre of Batavia was formed by the square nowadays known as Taman Fathillah. Here is the former city hall situated which now accommodates the Historical Museum Fatahillah. This museum, also renovated, does have an imposing collection of artifacts and furniture from the colonial age. Beside the colonial objects the museum also has some prehistoric artifacts.

Beside the Historical Museum there are two more museums at Taman Fathillah namely the Puppet Museum (Wayang) and the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics (Balai Seni Rupa). The Puppet Museum is located at the place of the earlier Dutch Church and exhibits a beautiful collection of Javanese wayang kulit (leather) puppets as well as puppets from other parts of south-east Asia as China and Cambodia.

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 - Last updated: June 2009 -