Amsterdam Gate in Jakarta, 1946-1949

Image: Atlas van Stolk

When the VOC tried to establish its power in the Nusantara archipelago, they took the city of Jayakarta and changed its name to Batavia, which comes from Batavieren, the name of the ancestral tribe of the Dutch. To defend the city from enemy attacks, the VOC built defensive infrastructure such as city walls, castles and canals.

The photo above is the Amsterdam Gate (Amsterdaasche Poort) which was the South gate of Batavia Castle. Everyone who came from Sunda Kelapa Harbor and wanted to go to Batavia must passed through this gate.

There are two gates of the Batavia Castle; South gate and North gate. Both were made in the Netherlands and shipped to Batavia. The South Gate was completed and dispatched first, while the North gate was completed later and sent after. However, the ship that carried it strayed and sank in Australian waters in 1629. The North Gate is currently in a museum in Australia, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government's efforts to bring it to Jakarta have not yielded results yet.

Back to the Amsterdam Gate, around 1830-1840, the gates of the former VOC fort were restored by adding statues of the God Mars and the Goddess Minerva. The South Gate of Batavia Castle was demolished in 1869 because it obstructed the horse tram project, so the walls on either side of the gate were torn down. In 1950 the entire gate was finally torn down for a road widening project.