About · Kota Lama, Semarang
The Raden Patah Heritage
A colonial-era hotel in the heart of Semarang’s old town.
A Protected Heritage Building of Semarang
The Kaart van de Hoofdplaats Semarang en Omstreken records this building as far back as 1892. It has stood through every era since, and remains one of the protected colonial-era heritage buildings of Semarang.
Timeline
The building through time
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1892
Kaart van de Hoofdplaats Semarang en Omstreken · 1892 Recorded on the map
The building appears on the Kaart van de Hoofdplaats Semarang en Omstreken, the official map of the Dutch East Indies. That record places it among the oldest documented buildings in the district.
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1899–1900
A street in Kota Lama, Semarang Standing in the old town
Records held by the Semarang city government date the building to between 1899 and 1900, when Kota Lama was growing into the centre of colonial trade and administration.
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1928
Semarang from the air · Tropenmuseum collection A witness to the movement
Known then as Hotel Centrum, the building became one of the gathering places of the Youth Pledge era, where figures of the independence movement met and exchanged ideas about nationhood.
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After 1945
The building and a becak · Kota Lama Standing through the decades
The building came through independence and the changes that followed, and stayed where it was on its corner of Kota Lama. It has aged alongside the city, and every corner holds another layer of its story.
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Today
The Raden Patah Heritage · today A hotel, then and now
Once known as Hotel Centrum, the hotel is now The Raden Patah Heritage. Its purpose has not changed, and its original architectural elements are still in place, so guests experience the history of the building throughout their stay.
In 1928, the year of the Youth Pledge, The Raden Patah Heritage served as a centre of political and cultural activity under Dutch colonial rule. Many Indonesian nationalist figures — among them Soekarno, Hatta and Ki Hadjar Dewantara — visited Gedung Raden Patah and held meetings there.SPBE Dinas Komunikasi dan Informatika Kota Semarang
Architecture
Indies Style
The building is built in the Indies style, a blend of European elements with a design adapted to the tropical climate of the Dutch East Indies. The style is rooted in Neoclassicism, with the harmony, symmetry and proportion that look back to ancient Greek and Roman art.
In the Indies, the style was carried out by local builders known as anemer. Not every Neoclassical element was applied in full, particularly in matters of proportion, but the influence is still visible in the details of the building today.
- StyleIndies
- InfluenceNeoclassical
- PrinciplesHarmony · Symmetry · Proportion
- SignatureShaded tropical veranda
Gallery
Spaces and details
Surroundings
Around Kota Lama
From the eighteenth century into the early twentieth, Kota Lama Semarang was the centre of colonial trade and administration. The Raden Patah Heritage stands in the middle of it, surrounded by colonial-era buildings that are landmarks in their own right today.
Over recent decades the district has been revitalised as part of preserving its heritage. An old church, long-established coffee houses and Tawang Station are all a short walk from the hotel — close enough to bring some of the nostalgia of European rail travel into the middle of Semarang.