"I’ll ask my father," said the young girl and went to find him.I sat down in the shade and looked at this huge building for which I had come. In its day of glory it had housed The Nederlandsch-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij, The Dutch Indies Rail Company. I counted myself lucky. If the girl could find her father I stood a fair chance to see the inside and take some photos.
My guidebook, obviously not updated, warned me that I could not get past the gate. But I had just done so. I read on: It is impossible to enter the building because the military has set up headquarters here and consequently taking photos is strictly forbidden.
My father took this photo in the 1930s
This is what it looks like today.
I looked at the building and it was quite obvious that it had been empty for quite some time. Walls were covered with mosses and weeds and mould, multiplying profusely, windows without panes, doors without locks and knobs, plaster peeling off revealing red bricks, typically Dutch building material, undoubtedly brought over from Holland as ballast on the ocean vessels.
"Where’re you from?" the little girl had found her father.
"Holland."
"Oh, Belanda!" he said approvingly. "Inside?" he asked pointing at the locked main entrance.
The key grinds in the lock; a mouldy smell greets us. We are in a dimly lit entrance hall. A monumental staircase leads to a landing, where it separates to the left and the right. Subdued light shines through the stained-glass windows. Traces of neglect all around me. The army must have moved out many years ago.
On my right a commemorative tablet, I copy the text. I walk up the stairs and admire the stained glass windows. The cities of Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam are represented and so is the Royal Family. Dutch coats of arms, Dutch symbolism. There are long corridors, open on one side and leading to offices on the other side. My father used to work in one, but I don’t know which.
The distinctive characteristics of the building are its many windows and doors, which gave the building its nickname: Gedung Lawang Sewu, the Building with the Thousand Doors.
