Lawang Sewu

Lawang Sewu is one of the historical places in Indonesia, that is located at Jalan
Pemuda,Semarang, Central Java. It is a landmark building of Semarang.

Lawang Sewu was built on 1904, and finished in 1907. The architect of this building is
C.G Citroen, the design is New Indies Style. Lawang Sewu is owned by PT Kereta Api
Indonesia. For now this building has become a museum and destination place.

Lawang Sewu is considered to be the most building that has a lot doors and windows.
Most people said, that there are more than 1000 windows there. But actually, there are only 428
windows. There is a reason, why the building has a lot windows. In 1904, the situation in
Semarang was really fresh and the temperature was cold. C.G Citroen, the architect of this
building thought that this building had to have a lot windows. So he hoped that the fresh air
would come inside building. In Javanese language, Lawang means door and Sewu means
Thousand. So Lawang Sewu is a building with thousand doors.

We can also say that Lawang Sewu is a historical place. Because in 14 October, this
building area was used for battlefield between Indonesia people in Semarang and Netherlands
Colonial. The war started in 14 October until 19 October 1945.

Lawang Sewu has a crypt in the underground. In the building crypt there are jails and
bunkers. The jail used to be prison for Indonesian people and enemy, in Japan Colonial era.
People say that the prison name is Standing Jail. Because the jails only have 60 cm x 100 cm
large. So when someone went to the jail, they could die in a short time. Until now tourists and
visitors can still see the jail, that is located in the underground of Lawang Sewu. But visitors
must pay more if they want to visit the crypt.

Behind the historical story of this building, Lawang sewu also famous with the scary
story. The place is considered to be the haunted place in Semarang. The possible reason why the
building is haunted, is because the spirit of Japanese and Indonesia people that died in here, still
haunting the building. Lot of visitors said, that sometime they heard a woman screaming from
the building. Or sometime visitors saw a Japanese soldier on the building. In the night, most of
ghost hunter visit Lawang sewu, to prove if there is a ghost or not in the building.

Lawang sewu is a good place for take a photo in there. So that’s why a lot of visitors
like to go in there. Most of visitors must be take photo in the building. But there is not only the
reason why visitors like to go to Lawang Sewu. The other reason is to see how beautiful is the
building. I think this place is really recommended for you as a destination place on the next
holiday.