It's always nice to share positive things, especially in terms of the functions of myself as an educator and also a lover of nature's God's gift ... And this time, I wanted to share a bit of information and experience regarding Jakarta, the city where I live since 28 years ago .. A Modern city which also preserving majestic past history, the history of the Nation of Indonesia as a great nation
The picture above is the material we are sharing this time. A 4 century old bridge, made of wood which is now known as Jembatan Kota Intan (Diamond City Bridge).
Imagine you were standing in the ancient fortress of Batavia, in time when Jakarta not become a Capital City of Republic of Indonesia yet .. You were standing in a canal which so important, a main artery of Batavia trading at that time, you then saw a row of ships lined up to enter the fort of Batavia, toward the warehouses owned by VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie - a Dutch trading company which very powerful at that time), including spices as the jewel of the Nusantara archipelago.
When about to enter the castle, you saw the ships stopped and waited for the bridge guard to pull the chain so that the link of the wooden bridge was lifted and welcome the ships to enter the canal.. Yes, that was a piece of plank-old history of the triumph of the 4 century old wooden bridge ..
Jembatan Kota Intan or Diamond City Bridge is currently located at the end of Kali Besar Barat Street and Kali Besar Timur Street, right in front of The Batavia Hotel (formerly known as Omni Batavia Hotel)
The bridge which was built in 1628, has 30 meters long and width of 4,43 meter and was originally built to connect the British Fortress and Batavia Fortress (most likely, this is the reason why the bridge was originally called Engelse Brug). Engelse Brug only stand for a year, because in 1629 this bridge was damaged after the war between the Kingdom of Mataram and Batavia's VOC. The bridge had to wait until 26 years later to be renovated and name changed to Het Middelpunt Brug (Jembatan Pusat) by the government of VOC in Batavia .
But ( probably ) because of the pronunciation difficulty by the local Batavia people, and also because of the chicken trading activity in the bridge surrounding area, so the name Jembatan Pasar Ayam (Hoenderpasar Brug) was mostly used by the local people of Batavia.
This unique saw bridge was again renamed in 1938 when it renovated, and used Ophaalsburg Juliana (Jembatan Ratu Juliana) as the name for the tribute to the Queen of the Dutch Kingdom.
Now, the wooden bridge which merged together with bolts, is no longer served ships that would enter the Canal of Batavia. The bridge still firmly stand even though 4 centuries have passed it by. What's left from it's glory still can be seen by us and of course we have to keep preserving it as a part of the history of this great nation. The rusty irons or the outdated wood still can't blind us for the triumph and extraordinary memories of this bridge. In fact, this is the only one bridge left out of so many bridge were built by VOC or Dutch Colonial Government in Jakarta.
Let us make this historical monument as part of the pulse of Jakarta City life, let's keep preserving Jembatan Kota Intan .. make it more than just a place to relax or a just a spot for a photographers to vent their hobbies, or just a place for a pre-wedding photo because of it's beauty dan it's uniqueness. It's more than that, It is one of our history .. and the great nation is the nation that respect and not forget about their history ...
Salam Lestari ...
Alika .. out !
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