Other Side of Kuningan. South Jakarta
Min, 10 Mar
|Le Meridien Jakarta
Distance: Approx. 10 km, City Tour (South Jakarta) Tour start at 7.30AM, and finish at 10.30AM Tour Highlights: Navigate through unique “Urban Kampung (Village)” alleyways in Kuningan area, Ereveld Dutch WW2 Hero Cemetery, Oldest 18th cent. Vihara & Temple.


Time & Location
10 Mar 2024, 07.30 – 10.30
Le Meridien Jakarta, Jl. Jenderal Sudirman No.Kav 18 - 20, Karet Tengsin, Kecamatan Tanah Abang, Kota Jakarta Pusat, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta 10220, Indonesia
About The Event
Kungingan is mostly known as Jakarta’s secondary central business district as well as the ambassadorial center for most of the foreign embassies that are situated around Kuningan and Rasuna Said. Despite being the center for foreign embassies, Kuningan offers a lot of cross-cultural gems which are rarely found this day in major cities. Similar to the cross cultural scenes between Indian and Chinese expatriates of Pasar Baru, we can see similar scenes behind the embassies of Kuningan and Rasuna Said.
Right behind one of Jakart’a most lavish office complex, Sampoerna Tower, hides a late 18th century Chinese temples complex for both Confucianism and Buddhism. The Hok Tek Tjeng Sin Temple complex serves as a place of worship since the late 18th century. Before the rapid development of modern office buildings, the area around the temple was formerly a bustling batik village. Several warehouses were situated in the villages around the temple, but due to the pollution it caused to the nearby rivers, they were forced to relocate the warehouses. The temple complex itself was founded by Chinese expatriates who themselves were also the merchants who operated the batik warehouses. Behind the temple complex can be seen a Masjid or Morsque which boasts unnatural or typical Islamic architectural design. The cross cultural mingling of local Muslims and Chinese expatriates culminated in a mosque which bears pagoda and Chinese-esque features which are not commonly seen anywhere around Jakarta.
Though the Netherlands has their official embassy in Jakarta, there is another area which technically is Dutch soil in Jakarta apart from their embassy. The Ereveld Hero’s Cemetery is a lavish and beautiful cemetery which houses veterans from World War 2 as well as the Indonesian Revolutionary War. Yet the cemetery itself is not dedicated to not one religion, but to all the major religions of Indonesia. From tombstones to columbariums, Ereveld turns the dreary image of a cemetery or graveyard into one of beauty, serene and calm.