Lawang Sewu — Attraction in Semarang

Lawang Sewu, a place that is popularly known by most Indonesian people because of its story. Lawang Sewu, a place that what we call as a ghost-hunter will mostly choose to do his hunting. What is Lawang Sewu actually? Well, let me describe this place to you! Lawang Sewu, is a bulid that is situated in a city in Central Java that is Semarang. Lawang Sewu that had started to be built in 1904 and finished in 1907 used to be used as an office of NIS (Nederlands-Indische Spoooweg Maatschappij) that is a Nederland Train Company that operated in Indonesia at colonialize time. Lawang Sewu literally means as “A thousand Doors”. People in Semarang calls this place as Lawang Sewu as this building has many door though if we count the doors it is not exactly a thousand doors. In fact, it is less than a thousand doors. Lawang Sewu itself is a two-storey building and now, it is used as an office by Indonesian Train Company since 1945 besides this building is now also open for a local people or tourism to visit. As an old building, lawing Sewu has its own spooky story. Many paranormal activities has been reported from this place. A scream, a voice of woman crying, an appearance of a Dutch soldiers, have been a part of story that cannot be separated from this place. Lawang Sewu has reached the peak of spooky place popularity in central Java. Rumor has it that lawing Sewu is actually a place of Dutch and Japanese as people who accidently saw a ghost in this place always said that the ghost always used a Dutch or Japanese soldier uniform. The ghosts of Japanese soldiers are reported to be seen in a room in the building frontage. They, according to people that have seen them, are Japanese soldiers that looks cruel. They have no nice place, no smile and also they have a long moustache. They bring a samurai in their hands. Not only there is an appearance of a Japanese soldiers, voices of a woman screaming is also a common thing you will find in this place. The voice is told to be a voice of woman that screams in pain. The voices is sometimes followed by a voice tramps of boots. Sometimes, when you are “lucky” enough, you will see a long-haired woman that is walking along the building corridor who has dim illuminations. The woman is told to walk with an empty stare, and as you look at her, she will gives you a scary and threatening face expression. In the building crypt, there were jails and bunkers. That Bunker was used to imprison Indonesian people or enemies. This jail is called “standing Jail” by Indonesia people. Why? because the prisoners put in this jail had to stand crammed as this place is really narrow. Its width is only 60cmx 1m and commonly, there would be 5 or 6 people that were forcedly put inside the jail. People who was thrown in this jail would commonly die in a short time, and those who still alive after the other’s died would be chopped in his head. The chopped head then would be thrown on the river flowing besides the building. Now, sometimes the scent of the blood or the corpse will be smelled when you are in this place though now the place has been cleaned. Moreover, if you sit all alone in this place and wait for a little longer, then you will get a little “gift”. You will see a green-eyed creatures that’s is believed to crawl in the building ceiling. That creature will crawl to everyone who successfully see it. So, if you successfully see this creature then I suggest to wear a running Nike shoes. Besides the jails in the crypt, there is a torture chamber. This chamber is a place of head-chopping. In this place is believed to a “nest” of chopped-head people’s spirits. The spirits in this place sometimes show their appearance in a very breath-taking form. They will be seen as a person who walk and bring their own head...

Lawang Sewu is a historic building in Indonesia located in Semarang City, Central Java. This building, which used to be the office of the Nederlands-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij or NIS. It was built in 1904 and completed in 1907. It is located at the Tugu Muda circle which was formerly called Wilhelminaplein.

Local people call it Lawang Sewu because the building has so many doors, despite the fact that the number of doors does not reach one thousand. This building has many windows that are tall and wide, so people often think of it as a gate.

This old building is the location of a great battle between the AMKA youth or the Train Youth Force against Kempetai and Kidobutai, Japan. Therefore the Semarang City Government includes Lawang Sewu as one of 102 ancient or historic buildings in the city of Semarang that are worth protecting.

Currently the old building has undergone a stage of conservation and revitalization carried out by the Unit Preservation of objects and historic buildings of PT Kereta Api Company.

During the Japanese occupation in 1942, the basement of the Lawang Sewu building was formerly a drainage channel but was converted into an underground prison as well as a drainage channel. This building is also a silent witness to the fierce battle between the people of Indonesia and the Japanese army, known as the Battle of Five Days in Semarang.

This underground jailis is a witness to the torture and massacre of Indonesian people, which was carried out by the Japanese army at the time of forced labor or romusha. The atmosphere in this place makes the hair stand on end, especially when entering a corner of a narrow room shaped like small pools that were used...

Lawang Sewu is one of Semarang historical tourism objects, which was built during the Dutch colonial. Lawang Sewu means thousand doors, even though it has only 429 doors and 600 large windows. All the materials was imported from Europe. Built in 1904 -1907 as the head office of NIC, one of train's companies in the Dutch East Indies. The building has 4 different building are building A & B the bigger building in the area and the smaller building are C & D.

In 1942, Japanese army took over and turned the building dungeon B as underground prisons it supposedly serves as a water reservoir in Dutch era. And the sad stories began. The prison were built 16 tanks measuring 1,5x1,5 meters for 6 prisoners each tank and filled up with the water until their necks. The other prison were 16 standing room size jailed 1 x 1 meter for 5-8 prisoners. And railway to the exit had executions room. The prisons closed for public now as many tourists are taking selfie which is not respect for the victims.

If you want to visit, I am suggesting to rent a guide tour and he/she will explain all the details of the building.

Grab bicycles rent are also available. Tickets entry only...