Historical Artifacts Go Up in Smoke

The fire that razed the Museum Bahari caused the loss of physical proof of the past glory of the archipelago’s spice trade.

Kompas/Wawan H Prabowo

The Maritime Museum in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, sustains fire damage after catching fire on Tuesday (16/1). The museum suspected the fire had been caused by an electrical short circuit.

The recent fire that razed the Maritime Museum in North Jakarta adds to the sad state in the capital of cultural heritage with extremely high historical value. The city administration needs to be more consistent in preserving old buildings. The present and the future depend on our learning from the past.

The windows with their thick frames were no longer in one piece. Giant wooden blocks that had served as the structural foundation had turned into blocks of coal. Everything was blackened and brittle. The fire that razed the Maritime Museum (Museum Bahari) on Tuesday (16/1) caused not only material damage, but also the loss of physical proof of the past glory of the archipelago’s spice trade.

Fire knows no mercy, not even for the centuries-old sturdy building of the Maritime Museum in Penjaringan, North Jakarta. Fire razed the northern side of two of its buildings, Buildings C and A, at around 8:50 a.m. Almost half of the museum was ruined. The roof of the burned rooms collapsed.

Wearing a mask, Jakarta cultural heritage expert Candrian Attahiyat walked briskly to one of the museum’s building as it emitted clouds of thick smoke. He aimed his cell phone camera at the building and took a video.

History and cultural heritage enthusiasts were there that day, including Jakarta restoration team head Bambang Eryudhawan and Indonesian History Community founder Asep Kambali. Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan also inspected the firefighting efforts. “We lost half of our historical artifacts,” Candrian said on Sunday (21/1).

Among the artifacts stored in the museum, the building itself was the most prized treasure that was lost to the fire. The building complex was established during the regime of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC), or the Dutch East Indies Company.

Candrian said that some 90 percent of the building was the original structure, including the giant wooden blocks in the building’s foundation and a majority of its wooden window frames and windowsills. Meanwhile, the building’s roof tiles and battens had already been replaced.

Kompas/Jimmy WP

Former governor Bang Ali, followed by director general for sea transportation Harjono Nimpoeno, surveys the location of the Maritime Museum, which will be restored on Monday (13/12/1976).

Spice storehouse

The Dutch first landed in Jayakarta (Jakarta today) in 1596. Afterwards, Dutch ships – including after the VOC was established in 1602 – routinely docked at Jayakarta Port to stock up on food and alcoholic beverages, as Adolf Heuken SJ wrote in Tempat-tempat Bersejarah in Jakarta (Historical Sites in Jakarta). The VOC then obtained a permit to build a storehouse in Jayakarta. As time went by, the storehouse was incorporated into the VOC’s small fort.

At the time, Jayakarta was under its third-generation ruler, Jayawikartam who served the Sultan of Banten. Jayakarta and Banten, however, were embroiled in a political conflict. In February 1619, Banten’s Prince Ranamanggala sent an envoy to oust Prince Jayawikarta. The conflict benefited the VOC, as Jayawikarta’s army had earlier placed the VOC fort under siege.

The VOC garrison (comprising Dutch, Japanese, German, French, Scottish, Danish and Belgian soldiers) triumphed. They then named the fort Batavia, in memory of the Batavian people who were believed to be the ancestors of the Dutch nation. In the subsequent three centuries, Jayakarta was known as Batavia before its name was changed to Jakarta during the Japanese occupation.

The Maritime Museum, originally the VOC’s western storehouse, was built 365 years ago in 1652. The storehouse was expanded several times until 1759. Heuken said that the different years atop a number of doors in the museum marked the year when that part of the storehouse was either repaired, expanded or built. Some of these years include 1718, 1719, 1773 and 1774.

At uts western storehouse, the VOC stored its valuable trade commodities, including spices, produce, coffee, tea and cloths. In the space between the storehouse and the city walls, VOC stored tin and copper. The wooden porch annexed to the front of the building protected these precious metals from the rain.

The wooden porch no longer exists. However, museum visitors can still see the remnants of the original city wall in front of the building and walk along a 50-centimeter-wide alleyway on top of the wall.

Bambang Eryudhawan said that the western storehouse was for keeping spices in transit. Spices from the Maluku Islands were stored at the storehouse before it was exported from Sunda Kelapa Harbor. “This was the biggest harbor during the Dutch Indies era until the construction of Tanjung Priok in the 19th century,” he said.

Candrian added that the attic on the storehouse’s third floor was used to dry spices. In the 1730s, the building was no longer used as a spice storehouse, as environmental condition of the area was becoming increasingly unhealthy. The building was used again in the 19th century for general purposes.

Maintaining the VOC’s western storehouse did not mean respecting our oppressors; instead, the building served to remind us of our past glory in the spice trade and in the commodity’s potential to advance the economy. “We are proud to be a country of spices, but we no longer rely on the spice trade,” Candrian said.

Neglected

The fire at the Maritime Museum gained widespread public attention. Searching the keywords “Museum Bahari” on Instagram yielded numerous photographs taken in front of the museum with their captions expressing deep sorrow.

The Jakarta administration has always paid attention to the maintenance of cultural heritage buildings. Last year, the administration provided Rp 7 billion to renovate the building. Some 50 percent of this budget was used to purchase teak from Bojonegoro, East Java.

Despite half of the building been lost to the fire, the Maritime Museum is still considered lucky, especially when compared to the fate of another VOC storehouse called Graanpakhuizen, or the grain storehouse, located 600 meters from the museum. The grain storehouse, located beside the RE Martadinata toll road, was used to store the VOC’s staple food supply, including rice, lentils, biscuits and other seafaring supplies.

Designed similarly to the Maritime Museum, the grain storehouse is no longer whole today. The oldest part of the building that was built in 1739 was torn down in 1996 to provide more space for the RE Martadinata toll road.

“Where is the government?” said Syafruddin, 58, the neighborhood unit (RT) 007 head of community unit (RW) 001 in Ancol subdistrict. He lives in Tongkol Dalam kampung, next to the VOC grain storehouse. He said that he believed maintaining the building was important to preserve the memories of our ancestors’ struggles.

In recent years, the building’s destruction has been more brutal. There is now a hole in its wall, through which locals throw away garbage. Syafruddin closed the wall with an iron panel.

There is no future without the past. Maintaining historical buildings is a good way to forge a better future.