Lawang Sewu will no longer be a haunted, sad place
Recently, the daily newspaper "The Jakarta Post" published an article "Lawang Sewu, a haunted, sad place." Now, after years of neglect and uncertainty, the former Nederlandsch-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij (Netherlands Indies Railway Company, or NIS) head office is being restored by the I ndonesian Railway Company (PTKA) Regional Office in Semarang. When this building was completed in 1907 it was a very modern building. The architects, J.F. Klinkhamer and B.J. Ouëndag, made a careful study of Semarang’s climatic condition. As a result, they came up with a design which is dominated by galleries (inspired by the front and rear galleries [ voor- en achter galerijen ] of Indies style houses) and louvered doors (in fact, many of them). This is why the people of Semarang affectionately gave the building the nickname “Lawang Sewu” (“The Thousand Doors” in Javanese). Recently, however, the building is more known as a haunted place. This, no doubt, recalls the time when i...
