Early this month I visited the old town (Kota Lama) Semarang. This place has for so long struggled to preserve its colonial heritage despite the monthly flood coming from the sea.

I try to re-envision what this place might look like in the early twentieth century by using a digital wet plate technique. Thank you for coming.

Gereja Blenduk, an old Protestant church firstly built in the 18th century, is one of the most iconic buildings in the old town of Semarang

The former building of Nederlandsche Handel Maatschappij (Netherlands Trading Society) seen from the old bridge connecting the old town with the more modern part of Semarang

The main entrance of the former building of Nederlandsche Handel Maatschappij

Built in the early 20th century, this building was not founded as a cigarette factory as it is now. It was built for the office of  N.V. Algemeene Nederlandsch-Indische Electriciteits-Maatschappij (ANIEM), a private company providing electricity

The former building of  Nederlandsch-Indische Levensverzekerings en Lijfrente Maatschappij (NILLMIJ) seen from the old Protestant church. Before the World War II, NILLMIJ was a major Dutch insurance business with substantial headquarters buildings and branch offices in the Dutch East Indies and in the Netherlands