The school you are about to visit, is currently named after one of the most influential Indonesian women in the Dutch East Indies around the turn of the 20th century: Princess Kartini. Although Kartini wasn’t involved in the school’s establishment – having passed away in 1904 at the tender age of 25 – her progressive ideas about the need for girls’ education resonated with the man after whom the school initially was named: Dutch lawyer and politician Conrad Theodor van Deventer (1857-1915).
Within a year after Kartini’s death and the posthumous publication of her ideas, Van Deventer established the Vereeniging Kartinifonds in the Netherlands. The fund’s purpose was to initiate and support the creation of so-called Kartini schools: all girls’ primary (boarding) schools . Within ten years, the Association realised ten Kartini schools throughout Java: the first Kartini school was established in 1913 in Semarang.
Although Van Deventer didn’t live to see the full impact of his efforts – he passed away only two years after he established the Kartini Association – the Association continued to pursue and promote his ideals and ideas. It even went a step further when, in 1916, it decided to also establish boarding schools that provided secondary and vocational education for girls. In honour of Van Deventer, the Kartini Association named these schools after him.
The first Van Deventer school in the colony was inaugurated in 1923; two years after the school opened its temporary accommodation in the Kartini school on the Karreweg (now Jalan Dr Cipto-Jalan Kartini).
The purpose built boarding school Karsten designed consists of three main parts: a symmetrical entrance building, two low pavilions that diagonally stretch outward from the back of the entrance building and a vast rear playing field with an uninterrupted view to the west. Without a doubt, the most impressive element of the complex is the centrally positioned open hallway in the entrance building. With its high roof and ceiling supported by four master columns, the hallway unashamedly mimics the architecture of a Javanese pendopo. Besides, thanks to its design and its position, the hallway simultaneously functions as the node from which the other elements of the complex disperse and come together again.
Today, the building is home to the Kartini Senior High School, a State school for both boys and girls. To facilitate the current student population, the building inevitably has undergone quite a few changes over the last decades. In essence though, the original lay-out and architecture of Karsten’s design can still be appreciated, inside and out.
To get to the Saint Elisabeth hospital (LATLON: -7.008220, 110.419091), object number nine on this tour, there are three options.
WALK (app. 30 minutes)
- Cross the road via the foot bridge.
- Turn around at the bottom of the stairs on the other side of the road and walk north on Jalan Sultan Agung until you reach Jalan Kawi – the narrow road next to the big commercial building.
- Turn right into Jalan Kawi 1.
- Continue on Jalan Kawi 1 until you reach the second street on the left: Jalan Kagok Dalam I.
- Follow this road until it hits the main road (Jalan Kawi) – to reach the main road, follow the bend to the right in Jalan Kagok Dalam I.
- When you hit the main road (Jalan Kawi), turn left. The entrance of the Saint Elisabeth hospital is only 100 meters away on your right.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT (app. 20 minutes)
- Get on TransSemarang 3A. The bus stops in front of the Van Deventer school on Jalan Sultan Agung.
- Get off at bus stop Taman Diponegoro.
- Cross the road and walk into Taman Diponegoro.
- At the end of Taman Diponegoro, turn right into Jalan Kawi.
- After about 100 meters you will see Saint Elisabeth Hospital on your left side.
PRIVATE TRANSPORT (app. 10 minutes)
Use an online transportation application or hail a taxi on Jalan Sultan Agung.
