Vredeburg Fort Museum, Tour exploring history in Yogyakarta Indonesia

 

Vredeburg Fort Museum, Tour exploring history in Yogyakarta Indonesia

The Vredeburg Fort Museum is located on Jalan Jenderal A. Yani, Yogyakarta. The Vredeburg Fort Museum is a silent witness to various historical events that have occurred in Yogyakarta since the colonial era. The fort is surrounded by ancient Dutch heritage buildings, such as Gedung Agung, Ngejaman Church, BNI 1946 Office, Post Office, Bank Indonesia, and Societeit Militaire. For those of you who have never been to this museum, you must be curious about the contents of this museum. Here's what we know about the contents of the Fort Vredeburg Museum.

The interior of the Vredeburg . Fort Museum

When entering the Vredeburg Fort Museum area, visitors will see an Indische architectural style building built with bricks and wood. At each corner there is a bastion as a monitoring angle. Inside the fort structure there are several rooms for prisons, gunpowder warehouses, and storage warehouses. In the central courtyard there are also 14 fortress buildings that were erected from several different times.

Inside the fort area, of course, there are various interesting collections. One of them is a collection of realia or inanimate objects that are really real and not imitations.

This collection has a direct role in the occurrence of historical events and objects in the form of weapons, manuscripts, clothing, and various household utensils. Then, there is a collection of photos, miniatures, replicas, paintings, and other visual objects. In addition there is also a collection of dioramas as a collection of historical event scenes. Inside the museum, there are 4 diorama rooms that show different events.

Diorama Room 1

In this room there are 11 dioramas, which depict historical events from the Diponegoro War to the Japanese occupation of Yogyakarta (1825-1942).

Diorama Room 2

Meanwhile, in Room Diorama 2 there are 19 dioramas, which show historical events from the beginning of independence to the First Dutch Military Aggression (1945-1947).

Diorama Room 3

Turning to Diorama Room 3, visitors can see 18 dioramas depicting history from the Renville Agreement to the recognition of the sovereignty of the RIS (1948-1949).

Diorama Room 4

In diorama room 4 there are 7 dioramas that show how historical events occurred, during the period of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia until the New Order Period (1950-1974).

From the museum collections and dioramas, at the Vredeburg Fort Museum there are also other rooms that can be visited. One of them is the Introductory Room, which functions as a mini studio. With a capacity of up to 50 people, in this room visitors can watch documentary films about the struggle for 10 to 15 minutes.

Historical events at the Fort Vredeburg . Museum

The existence of Fort Vredeburg cannot be separated from the birth of the Sultanate of Yogyakarta. In 1755, the Yogyakarta Sultanate Palace was built and after being occupied, several supporting buildings began to be built including Pasar Gedhe, a mosque, and the square. Then in 1760, the Dutch built Fort Rustenburgh near the palace, with the permission of the Sultan of Yogyakarta. The construction of the fort was aimed at controlling all developments that occurred within the palace, as well as a bulwark of strategy, intimidation, and blockade, if at any time the Sultan turned to attack and be hostile to the Dutch.

The fort was completed in 1787 but was damaged by an earthquake. After being repaired, Daendels changed its name to Vredeburg which means peace. Still standing strong to this day, Fort Vredeburg has recorded various important events that occurred in Yogyakarta.

For example, during the British occupation in 1811-1816, Fort Vredeburg was controlled by the British government under the control of John Crawfurd on the orders of Governor General Thomas Stamford Raffles.

At that time, there was an attack by British soldiers and indigenous forces on the Yogayakarta Palace on June 18-20, 1812, known as the Geger Sepoy incident.

Then on March 5, 1942, the Japanese took control of Yogyakarta and took over this fort. Several buildings in the fort became a place for the Dutch and Indonesian prisoners to fight against the Japanese, as well as the headquarters and armory of the Japanese army.

After the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence in 1945, the fort was taken over by the military agencies of the Republic of Indonesia. However, this fort was once again controlled by the Dutch troops in 1999

1948 to 1949 in the event of the Second Dutch Military Aggression.

Only later in June 1949 when the Dutch troops withdrew from Yogyakarta, the fort was managed by APRI (Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia).

In the period 1977-1992, the management of the fort was handed over to the Yogyakarta government and on November 5, 1984, the then Minister of Education and Culture, namely Prof. Dr. Nugroho Notosusanto stated that the former fort would be used as a museum.

Then in 1987, the Fort Vredeburg Museum covering an area of ​​46,574 square meters was opened to the public. Read for more detil Vredeburg Fort Museum