Surabaya. East Java.
A probably 19th century (but possibly 18th century) house dating from the Dutch colonial period in Surabaya. The style reflects a merge between Dutch gable houses and local domestic architecture, and is adapted to the tropical climate. It is located in the charming and walkable "heritage kampung".
Probably, no Dutch person ever lived in this house. The house is located in a traditional, historical Javanese neighbourhood of the colonial town, since the colonial city was segregated into different neighbourhoods home to different ethnicities en religions (f.e.: the Dutch neighbourhood, Chinatown, the Malay-Arab Islamic neighbourhood, the Javanese neighbourhood).
What I personally love about these houses that they resemble very much some town houses in Willemstad, Curaçao (another former Dutch colonial town and UNESCO world heritage site), and the similar "cas di cunucu" of neighbouring Aruba (also a former Dutch colony), where I have my roots.
Surabaya was found during the mighty Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit Empire (13th to 16th century), when it served as a port nearby its fabulous capital. During this time, it received Muslim Sufi missionaries, such as Ampel, who preached here and thus found an Islamic base in Java from where the religion was further spread. The historic Ampel neighbourhood still has one of the oldest mosques of Indonesia. The town came into the hands of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in the early 18th century, who further developped the town and introduced fascinating Dutch colonial architecture, but at the expense of the population and according to seggregation. Surabaya was the second most important port due to the export of sugar and tobacco from the interior. It was from here that, after the Japanese occupation in WWII, that the Indonesians and Sukarno declared independence from The Netherlands in 1945.
Surabaya. East Java.
A probably 19th century (but possibly 18th century) house dating from the Dutch colonial period in Surabaya. The style reflects a merge between Dutch gable houses and local domestic architecture, and is adapted to the tropical climate. It is located in the charming and walkable "heritage kampung".
Probably, no Dutch person ever lived in this house. The house is located in a traditional, historical Javanese neighbourhood of the colonial town, since the colonial city was segregated into different neighbourhoods home to different ethnicities en religions (f.e.: the Dutch neighbourhood, Chinatown, the Malay-Arab Islamic neighbourhood, the Javanese neighbourhood).
What I personally love about these houses that they resemble very much some town houses in Willemstad, Curaçao (another former Dutch colonial town and UNESCO world heritage site), and the similar "cas di cunucu" of neighbouring Aruba (also a former Dutch colony), where I have my roots.
Surabaya was found during the mighty Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit Empire (13th to 16th century), when it served as a port nearby its fabulous capital. During this time, it received Muslim Sufi missionaries, such as Ampel, who preached here and thus found an Islamic base in Java from where the religion was further spread. The historic Ampel neighbourhood still has one of the oldest mosques of Indonesia. The town came into the hands of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in the early 18th century, who further developped the town and introduced fascinating Dutch colonial architecture, but at the expense of the population and according to seggregation. Surabaya was the second most important port due to the export of sugar and tobacco from the interior. It was from here that, after the Japanese occupation in WWII, that the Indonesians and Sukarno declared independence from The Netherlands in 1945.