ESSAY WRITING_HISTORICAL PLACES in SURABAYA

ONE OF THE HISTORICAL PLACES IN SURABAYA

            Surabaya is one of big cities of Indonesia, the most populous in the east java which is populated by 2.892.200 citizens. Surabaya has many industrial factories and historical places, that can be visited as tourist attractions and educations. The historical places I want to discuss are, Hero Monument, Museum Of Sampoerna, and The Church of the Nativity of Our Lady.

            Hero monument is located in Tembaan street in front of East Java Governor Office. It is main symbol of the city dedicated to the people who died during the battle of Surabaya on November 10^th 1945. The 10 November Museum is located under the monument. This monument is 41.15 meters tall and is phallus-shaped. It was built to commemorate the events of 10 November 1945 at the Battle of Surabaya. It is the venue every November 10 for the commemoration of the events of 1945, when many heroes died in the war of independence. The first stone was laid by Sukarno, the first Indonesian President, accompanied by Surabaya Mayor, Doel Arnowo on 10 November 1951. It was officially opened one year later, also by Sukarno, on 10 November 1952 witnessed by Surabaya Mayor, R. Moestadjab Soemowidigdo. The 10 November Museum was built to explain the meaning behind the Heroes Monument. The building consists of 2 floors, with exhibitions symbolizing the spirit of the Surabayan people's struggle. There is an auditorium on the second floor. The museum contains reproductions of documentary photographs, and there are dioramas that present eight events that happened around the 10 November 1945 clashes. Based on data sources obtained by East Java Traveler from the Heroes Monumen Regional Technical Unit (UPTD), and Museum 10^th November 1945 in 2006 visitors were about 63.655 people, and  on 2007 there were about 157.000 visitors from the data above it can be said that places managed to attract public attention. Especially for those who like to travel in historical places.

            Second historical places in Surabaya is Museum Of Sampoerna. In the 1930s, Liem Seeng Tee adopted the Indonesian name Sampoerna (in Dutch spelling, cf. sempurna) meaning "perfection" as his family name, thus becoming the company's namesake. Sampoerna began producing Dji Sam Soe in 1913 in Surabaya, East Java. Following Seeng Tee's death in 1956, his two daughters took over the running of the company, while his two sons ran separate tobacco-related businesses. The daughters shifted the company's focus toward white cigarettes, which nearly caused bankruptcy for Sampoerna. Youngest son Liem Swie Ling, who ran a kretek factory in Bali, returned to Surabaya in 1959 to rescue the company. He shifted production back to hand-rolled Dji Sam Soe brand cigarettes. In 1968, the company launched Sampoerna A Hijau. By the mid-1970s, the company was producing over 1 million cigarettes daily and had 1,200 staff. Swie Ling in the 1970s began to hand over the running of the company to his second-eldest son, Liem Tien Pao, better known as Putera Sampoerna, who went on to modernize the company and expand its operations. In 1989, Sampoerna A Mild was launched. In May 2005, Philip Morris International, at that time a subsidiary of the Altria Group, completed the income of 97.95% of the company. HM Sampoerna's current president is Paul Norman Janelle. At the end of May 2014, Sampoerna closed its Lumajang and Jember factories and laid off 4,900 employees due to declining sales of hand-rolled kretek cigarette as consumers moved to buy machine-made kretek cigarettes. In 2010, the company was criticized for its approach to "corporate social responsibility" efforts when Mount Merapi in Central Java began erupting. The disaster relief teams which "aim to augment efforts by a stretched Indonesian government to house, clothe and feed evacuees from the volcano," were criticized for "the flashy four-wheel drive vehicles," and "the cluster of eager staffers wearing natty red and black uniforms covered with company logos."

            The last historical place is The Church of the Nativity of Our Lady, also known as the Kepanjen Church. It is a Roman Catholic church in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, which was build in 1899. It is the oldest Roman Catholic church in Surabaya and among the oldest churches in Surabaya. The first Roman Catholic church in Surabaya was located at what is now the corner of Jalan Kepanjen and Jalan Kebonrojo. The Church was designed by W. Westmaas, among his previous project was the reconstruction of the Blenduk Church in 1894. During its construction, the pile foundation had to be adjusted to reach the depth of 16 meter because of the relatively unstable ground, compared with the initial planning of 4 meter deep pile foundation. 799 pillars was needed to establish the foundation, the pillars were made of galam wood from Kalimantan. The red bricks were imported from Europe. The columns and the original furniture were made of teak. The church suffered fire damage during the 1945 Battle of Surabaya. Some of the original bricks had to be replaced with new ones, resulting in uneven coloration.

            In summary, there are a lot of historical places in Surabaya, can be Surabaya’s icon. It makes Surabaya one of popular cities of Indonesia. The historical places in Surabaya is interesting places that must be visited, the visitor can be recreation while education. As the result, Surabaya is one of the big cities in Indonesia not only because it has a densely population and many factories, but also because it has many choices of famous historical tourist destinations,, and every year the tourist percentage is quite increase as evidenced by Based on data sources obtained by East Java Traveler (UPTD). Historic tourist attractions in Surabaya have economical prices and are guaranteed to provide a wealth of experience and knowledge, will not be sorry if you explore historical tours in Surabaya.