If you think our obsession for Jakarta’s history has reached worrying levels, then you might be right. Who else in the world would get so utterly excited by discovering colonial era relics from the time Jakarta was called Batavia, that we assumed would have all disappeared long ago? When we recently passed the Al Makmur mosque on Jalan Raden Saleh (formerly: Laan Raden Saleh) we discovered something unbelievable.
Street lamp
Thinking that all colonial era street furniture was removed decades ago, we noticed the remains of an original 1930s Batavia street lamp on the bridge next to the mosque. There are a few more on the other corners of the bridge too. The historic picture of the mosque on Jalan Raden Saleh and street lantern dates from 1941. If you know of any other old street lanterns in current day Jakarta, please let us know!
