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Thursday, 16 April 2020

Civilization of the past on the Earth Sawahlunto





Sawahlunto is like having a passage of time.
Visiting Sawahlunto seemed back to the early 20th century.

The traces of one of the cities in the Minangkabau Highlands began in 1858 when Ir. C. De Groot van Embden did research on coal in Sawahlunto.
The research was settled by Ir. Willem Hendrik de Greve, a messenger of the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies in 1867.

In the study it was revealed that in one part of the Stone River Ombilin contain coal as much as 200 million tonnes. The colonial government immediately decided to make the area a separate city, named Sawahlunto.
Coal production began in 1892.

The Dutch colonial government built all facilities in the new city, ranging from government offices, residential workers, to luxury hotels.
No doubt if the current Sawahlunto is known as the Old City in West Sumatra.

The foot of Sawahlunto means that we have to take a break to the end of the 19th century to the early 20th century in some of these historic buildings.


- The Mbah Soero hole

Arguably, this is the most popular place as a tourist destination in Sawahlunto. Because, in addition to the strong nuances of mining history in the colonial period, the Mbah Soero hole is also strong in mystical stories.

Mbah Soero Hole is the first coal mine opened by the Dutch in the Ombilin stone area. This hole was newly explored for the tour activity in 2007 years ago.


- Hotel Ombilin

In its day, this hotel is the only luxury hotel in Sawahlunto.
The Ombilin Hotel was built to be the home of Dutch mining experts.
Until now the hotel still operates by retaining the main building as the original.


- Silo Sawahlunto

In addition to visiting the Coal mining center in Batu Ombilin, we are obliged to stop by this coal silo.
This Silo has three super large storage tubes.
In addition to the giant silos, we will also find a steam train that was used to transport coal.


- Goedang Ransoem Museum

Besides silos, we should also visit this museum one.
This building actually has a simple function, which is to provide food for the mine workers.
What makes it unique is about the ability of this warehouse in providing food for hundreds of mine workers.


- Railway Museum

In addition to opening the city of Sawahlunto as a mining town, the Netherlands also built a railway line to the city of Padang.
This Museum is once a train station that will go to Padang.

In this museum we can also meet Mak Itam, the oldest locomotive with the number E1060.
This locomotive has become one of the icons of Sawahlunto.

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