Fatahillah Square (Indonesian: Taman Fatahillah) is the historical center of the old
Batavia. The square is located at the center of
Jakarta Old Town. Today the square is a tourist area home to the
Jakarta History Museum,
Wayang Museum and
Fine Art and Ceramics Museum
The Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics ( id, Museum Seni Rupa dan Keramik) is a museum in Jakarta, Indonesia. The museum is dedicated especially to the display of traditional fine art and ceramics of Indonesia. The museum is located in east side of ...
in
Kota
Kota or KOTA may refer to:
People and languages
*Kōta (given name), a masculine Japanese given name
*Kota Brahmin, a sub-caste of Brahmins in Karnataka
*Kota people (India), a tribe in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu, South India
**Kota language ...
,
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
.
History
Pre-1632 layout
From the beginning of its foundation, Batavia was a well-planned Dutch forted city. The square that would become Fatahillah Square was first recorded in c.1627 as ''Nieuwe Markt'' (Dutch "New Marketplace"). At that time the mouth of the river
Ciliwung
Ci Liwung (often written as Ciliwung; also as Tjiliwoeng in Dutch, Sundanese: ᮎᮤᮜᮤᮝᮥᮀ) is a 119 km long river in the northwestern region of Java where it flows through two provinces, West Java and the special region of Jakarta. ...
(named then as ''Groote Rivier'', "Big River") meandered toward the west-side of the square, giving the square a riverfront quality. The square was only half the size of the present square, the eastern half of the present square was occupied by shophouses. Shophouses also flanked the square at the north side, while the first
City Hall of Batavia was built to the south of the square, center to the north-south axis of the Prinsenstraat (now Jalan Cengkeh), proof of urban planning in the forted city. The name ''Stadhuisplein'' was probably given immediately to the square following the completion of the city hall.
Post-1632 layout
In 1632, Batavia underwent a major restructuration. To strengthen the defense system, governor-general
Jacques Specx (1629-1632) redesigned Batavia with an outer city wall, defended by a system of outer and inner moat. The inner city was planned following a grid-like planning and crisscrossed with a network of canals. To accommodate the grid-like layout, the Groote Rivier was normalized into a straight north-to-south waterway. The shop houses at the eastern side of the square were also demolished. With the normalization of the Groote Rivier and the demolition of the east shop houses, the square became completely enclosed with buildings. The Prinsestraat (present Jalan Cengkeh), which in the beginning formed the street that leads to the
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
, were established as an urban center, connecting the Castle south gate with the
City Hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
, forming an impressive vista on the seat of government. Beginning from the year up until around late 18th-century, the Stadhuisplein was flanked with the City Hall to the south, a
church to the west, some shop houses to the north, and the
Tijgersgracht to the east.
In 1635, a Chinese clothing bazaar occupied the northwest part of the square. This bazaar was demolished in the early 18th-century. The location of the clothing bazaar corresponds more or less with the area in front of present Cafe Batavia.
Modern period
In late 19th century, the Stadhuisplein was traversed with a
tramline, passing diagonally from Binnen Nieuwpoortstraat at the south (now Jalan Pintu Besar Utara), to Prinsenstraat (now Jalan Cengkeh) at the north. C. 1870, with the elimination of the Tijgersgracht and the completion of the Palais van Justitie (now
Fine Arts and Ceramics Museum), the total area of the Stadhuisplein expanded slightly to the east. This layout of the square will be the final layout of the square.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the northeast shop houses were demolished to make way for the ''Post- en telegraaf kantoor aan het Stadhuisplein'' (now
Kota Post Office
The Kota Post Office ( id, Kantor Pos Kota) is a historic building in Kota, Jakarta, Indonesia; operated by Pos Indonesia. It was designed by Ir. R. Baumgartner in 1929 as the ''Post- en telegraaf kantoor''. The building is one of the buildings in ...
). Demolition of these shophouses incited controversy among the architects and academics. Both
Berlage and
Karsten
Karsten or Carsten is a both a given name and a surname. It is believed to be either derived from a Low German form of Christian, or "man from karst". Notable persons with the name include:
Given name
;Carsten:
* Carsten Charles Sabathia (born 1 ...
, noted Dutch architects, cited the addition of the building as destroying the traditional city structure of the Old Town.
Post-colonial period
The name ''Stadhuisplein'' lingered until nationalization of street names in Indonesia when the name was changed into Taman Fatahillah ("Fatahillah Square") after
Fatahillah, a pre-Dutch 16th-century commander of the
Sultanate of Demak
The Demak Sultanate (کسلطانن دمق) was a Javanese Muslim state located on Java's north coast in Indonesia, at the site of the present-day city of Demak. A port fief to the Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit kingdom thought to have been founded ...
who recaptured the port city from the Portuguese.
In the year 1970, restoration of the square and a couple of landmark in the
Old Town
In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are ma ...
was done by the governor
Ali Sadikin. The former city hall was made a
history museum in 1974. Also in that year, the 18th-century artesian water pump was restored in the middle of the square.
Present
Together with the
Kota Tua Jakarta
Kota Tua Jakarta (Indonesian for "Jakarta Old Town"), officially known as Kota Tua, is a neighborhood comprising the original downtown area of Jakarta, Indonesia. It is also known as ( Dutch for "Old Batavia"), ("Lower City", contrasting it wi ...
, Fatahillah Square is a car-free area.
References
Works cited
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{{commons, Fatahillah Square
Squares in Jakarta