Maritime Museum Opens Batavia Zero Meridian Line Exhibition Room
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VIVA – The DKI Jakarta Culture Service through the Jakarta Maritime Museum will open the Batavia Meridian Zero Line Exhibition Room on Thursday, July 7, 2022. This exhibition room will be held at the Maritime Museum, Penjaringan Subdistrict, North Jakarta.
The inauguration of the exhibition room coincided with the 45th Anniversary of the Jakarta Maritime Museum.
The Head of the DKI Jakarta Culture Service, Iwan Henry Wardhana, said that there are some navigation collections regarding the Zero Line (Point Zero) of the Batavia Meridian along with a complete explanation of past shipping activities that were presented at the exhibition.
This exhibition room will also serve as a reminder and dissemination of important information for Jakarta residents regarding shipping activities around the Sunda Kelapa port in the past.
"The existence of this exhibition space is proof to the public that the existence of shipping activities around the Sunda Kelapa port in the past was on the zero line (zero point) of the meridian," Iwan said in Jakarta on Tuesday, June 5, 2022.
Iwan Henry hopes that this exhibition can later serve as a reminder of history for the community, as well as provide benefits for the continuity of information about history in Jakarta.
Meanwhile, Head of the Management Unit for Jakarta Maritime Museum, Mis'ari said that the exhibition was aimed at straightening out the perceptions and narratives circulating in the public regarding the zero-kilometer point as a reference for sailing time.
"People's understanding of the zero point or zero line as a reference for sailing time is at the zero kilometer monument in Yogyakarta and the zero kilometer point for Indonesia on Weh Island, Sabang, Aceh. In fact, the zero point or zero line at the Maritime Museum is a reference to the correct time to sail," Mis'ari said.
Museum Bahari
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Mis'ari also explained that the zero line in question was the zero longitude line which was indispensable during the active period of trade in the Sunda Kelapa area at that time. Nevertheless, the Maritime Museum took the initiative to present more accurate information regarding the history of the zero line (zero point) of the meridian through this exhibition room.
As information, the zero line (zero point) of the meridian is in the Signal Tower which was built in 1839, which is currently located in the Maritime Museum area, namely at Pasar Ikan Street Number 1.
The location of the building in the Syahbandar Tower area is above the former Culemborg Bastion or the fort as well as the defensive wall of the city of Batavia which was built around 1645, along with the construction of a wall around the city of Batavia on the west bank.
In this building stored the most accurate clock and equipment. Then, on the roof was erected a fixed time signal that could be seen from a distance.
By observing this daily signal, the crews of ships anchored in Batavia Bay were able to adjust their ship's hours. At that time, timekeepers were still needed by sailors to determine their position during sea voyages.
The zero line (zero point) of the Batavia meridian was still used for map production of Indonesia until 1942, although from 1883 the Greenwich meridian was universally accepted as the prime meridian.
Then, next to the building where the zero line (zero point) is located, the Syahbandar Tower was built in 1839, which functions as a control tower and traffic controller for ships entering and leaving the city of Batavia by sea.
Before port activities moved to Tanjung Priok Port, this Syahbandar Tower had a function as a customs office, or a place where people collected taxes on goods unloaded at the Sunda Kelapa port.
