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Photo: Yunita Lestari, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The beautiful Sam Poo Kong temple (Gedung Batu) was built to honour the Muslim Chinese admiral Cheng Ho of the Ming Dynasty, who visited Semarang in the early 15th century. It was extensively renovated in 2006 to celebrate the 600th anniversary of Cheng Ho's visit. In the entry area, there are a couple of stores that sell Chinese art and objects, including giant candles and, of course, there's a place to eat. This complex is one of the major temples for certain Chinese religions, notably Kong Hu Chu (Confucianism), and is replete with a long stone mural depicting major events of Cheng Ho's time here, as well as several different temples, each with its own specific style and architecture. You can burn an envelope in a special prayer oven, or ask a soothsayer to read fortune-telling sticks for you. The temple area is open to visitors if you pay an additional fee, otherwise, you can see much of it from behind a chain - but the mural is behind the temples - but only those seeking to pray may actually enter the temples.
Sam Poo Kong, also known as Gedung Batu Temple, is the oldest Chinese temple in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. Originally established by the Chinese explorer Zheng He, it is now shared by Indonesians of multiple religious denominations, including Muslims and Buddhists, and ethnicities, including Chinese and Javanese.
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A multi-colored rainbow village focused on sustainable initiatives. Near the village, there is a Kalisari floral market and a promising outlook in the wood construction library that won Architizer A+ Awards 2020 and became the winner of ArchDaily building of the year 2021, named Microlibrary Warak Kayu.
Air Mancur Menari BKB
Dancing fountain show in the evening.
Military museum.
Lawang Sewu means 'a thousand doors' in Javanese. It has a lot of them, but probably not that many. Built as the headquarters of the Dutch East Indies railway company in 1907, over time it served various purposes. The Dutch reputedly used the basement as a jail and torture centre. During World War II it was used as the Japanese army's headquarters in Semarang, and further atrocities were committed by the Japanese. The attic, with its twin water towers, was used by the military as a badminton court. Reputed to be haunted. Tour guides are available at the building's entrance. Flashlight tours of the basement, with its interesting system of small pools of water to help keep it cool, are a fun scare.
Javanese culture and art museum.