Gedung Singa

Gedung Singa owes its name to the two yellow lion statues on each side of the impressive front door of the building ('singa' is Indonesian for 'lion'). With its high windows and beautiful wooden decorations above the front door, this building strongly resembles typical Dutch architecture as can be found in cities like The Hague and Amsterdam. Gedung Singa was probably built in the late 1700's, and was the house of some important members of colonial society - including Indonesian National Library founder and German nobleman baron Friedrich von Wumb. As of March 2019, the building isn't open for visitors and is not in use.

Great adventure ... The Lion Museum ... An amazing experience for my holiday ud83dudc4dud83dude42

This building is called the Yellow Lion Building because in front of the main door there are two lion statues that were originally painted yellow. But actually this old building is a Dutch castle that was built around the end of the 18th century or early 19th century in West Kali Besar. Then this castle was once the office of the Bank of China.nnNot only that, several changes in building functions were still ongoing after the abandonment of the Bank of China. The building was restored by the North Borneo Company in 1921. At that time the stairs were moved to the small house, the door to the left, and inside the ventilation hole above the main door was installed beautiful antique wood carvings.nnThis house was once used as the office and warehouse of the Houghton and Tels & Co. Firms. A German aristocrat, Baron Friedrich von Wumb also lived here. Wumb was one of the pioneers of the formation of the Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen or the Batavia Association of Arts and Sciences. In addition, Wumb is also the founder of the National Library which in 1889 was moved from the National Museum building to the former Koning Willem III School building on Jalan Matraman Raya.

The Lion Building, that's how the ancient building was commonly known. As the name implies, at the front of the building there are two lion statues. The lion statue that seemed to be guarding the building was gray and in a sitting position. A pair of ornaments shaped like wings adorned the lion's back.nnIt is not known who made the lion statue. But it is suspected that it functions like a building guard like the Dwarapala in the temple or the Ciok-say lion in the temple. There are also those who say that the winged lion is one of the four wild beasts in the Bible called the Minute Lion. The winged lion is also used as the coat of arms of Venice and a symbol of St. Mark.

Nice. Suitable for coffee together