History Clock Tower Bukittinggi sumatra west
According to the story of historical figures, the construction of the Tower Gadang Tower began around 1826 during the Dutch colonial period in Indonesia. The Clock Tower was built as a gift for the secretary of Bukittingi city, Rook Maker.
The design was designed by Yazid Rajo Mangkuto, an indigenous architect, and the first stone laying was done by the son of Rook Maker who was then 6 years old. The builder is predicted to spend 3000 guilders. In those days, the value of that number was quite fantastic. No wonder if in the history of development that takes quite a long time, Jam Gadang became the center of attention so widely known among the public.
Since it was established until now, the ornaments of the Gadang clock have been changed several times, especially on the roof. First built, the tower roof is round-shaped with a statue of a cock above it facing eastward. During the Japanese occupation, the roof was renovated into a shape like Pagoda or Klenteng. Then after Indonesia's independence, the roof of the tower was transformed into a form like Minangkabau traditional house as well as a symbol of the Minangkabau tribe.
The last renovation at Jam Gadang was conducted in 2010 by the Indonesian Heritage Conservation Agency (BPPI) in cooperation with the Bukittinggi city government and the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta. The renovation was inaugurated on December 22, 2010, right on the anniversary of the 262th city of Bukittinggi. Until now, Jam Gadang continues to be preserved existence.
In terms of buildings, Jam Gadang was built without iron buffer and mortar. The mixture is white sand, lime, and egg white as a glue. Well, this egg white, as well as ingredients and beauty, is also believed to have a very strong adhesive substance. It has also been supported by several studies on egg content. In history, other buildings such as the Colloseum in Rome, the Sultan's Grand Mosque in Riau, Borobudur Temple in Jogja and other historic buildings were built using egg whites.
Back at Jam Gadang, the base building has an area of 13 x 4 meters and has a height of 26 meters. The inside consists of several levels with the top level of storage to the pendulum. In 2007, the pendulum was broken due to the earthquake, but immediately replaced by the government of Bukittinggi.
On all four sides, the tower is 4 hours with a diameter of 80 cm each. The clock was imported from the Netherlands directly through Teluk Bayur port. Keep in mind, the machine on Clock Tower is made exclusively, ie only two units in the world. One is used on Clock Tower, another one used Big Ben's big clock in London, England. The clock machine named Brixlion was made by a German company called Vortmann Relinghausen.
The uniqueness of Clock Tower
Behind the making, it turns out Jam Gadang has its own uniqueness, the Roman numerals contained at that hour. The number four written in that hour deviates from the standard, because it is written IIII, not IV. Herein lies its uniqueness. The four roman numerals that should have been written IV are instead written with the number one row of four (IIII). The uniqueness of writing the numbers on the hour leaves a big question mark for everyone who sees it. Whether writing the number is a mistake in the making, or indeed an ancient patron for roman numerals.
There are various versions of stories related to the writing of Roman numerals are circulating in the middle of society, including:
The opinion that the number IIII in Jam Gadang refers to the Dutch anxiety of symbol IV which stands for "I Victory" which means "I Won". Dutch fear number IV to trigger the spirit of Indonesian people's struggle for independence.
The opinion that the number IIII refers to the death toll as a sacrifice in the construction of the clock tower.
The opinion explains that the reason for using number IIII is solely due to technical problems. If the number IV is used, then the blacksmith should make the letter X as much as 4 bars, I as many as 16 stems and the letter V of 5 stems. The problem is that the blacksmiths can only be economical if they make iron in multiples of four. If the number four is written with the IV symbol, then there will be one 3 V letter wasted. For these economical reasons, the blacksmith finally made the number four with the symbol IIII instead of IV.
Opinions from other versions mention that at first, Roman numerals were varied. In the early days, the number four was written IIII with four letters I. This is evidenced in the hours of the sun that was made before the 19th century, almost all of them using IIII for the number four. Including Clock Tower, because it was made at the beginning of 19 then the writing of lift four still use symbol IIII.