There's a building in Semarang that almost every visitor misunderstands. They show up expecting a haunted house. They take photos in the basement. They leave within forty minutes. They miss everything that actually matters about Lawang Sewu.
I've been visiting this building since 2008. I've watched it go from a crumbling ruin to a restored landmark. I've seen the tourist crowds shift from curiosity seekers to Instagram photographers. The building hasn't changed much in the past five years. The way people experience it has changed completely.
Lawang Sewu sits on Tugu Muda roundabout in central Semarang. The name means "Thousand Doors" in Javanese. The actual count is closer to 600 doors and windows combined. Nobody visits for the math.
The main facade of Lawang Sewu, photographed on a Tuesday morning before the crowds arrive.
What the Building Actually Is
The Nederlands-Indische Spoorweg Maatschappij commissioned this structure in 1904. Construction finished in 1907. The building served as the administrative headquarters for the Dutch colonial railway company until the Japanese occupation in 1942.
Most tourists learn none of this. The guides rush through the colonial history to get to the ghost stories. The basement tours focus on Japanese torture chambers. The architecture gets maybe three minutes of attention.
This is backwards.
I spoke with Ir. Hartono from the Semarang Heritage Society back in 2019. He told me that fewer than one in twenty visitors asks about the architecture. The railway history interests maybe one in fifty. Everyone asks about the ghosts.
The main staircase with original iron railings. The tile work on the landing is Dutch manufacture, early 1900s.
The Restoration Story
When I first visited in 2008, Lawang Sewu was a wreck. The building had been abandoned since 1994. Squatters occupied the ground floor. The basement flooded every rainy season. Trees grew through the windows on the upper levels. The municipal government had discussed demolition multiple times.
PT Kereta Api Indonesia took over the property in 2009. Initial restoration focused on structural stabilization. The roof came first. Drainage systems followed. By 2011, the main building was weatherproof again.
The full restoration project ran from 2009 to 2018. Total expenditure exceeded 25 billion rupiah. The railway company funded roughly sixty percent. Central Java provincial government covered the rest.
I watched sections of this work during visits in 2011, 2014, and 2017. The tile restoration alone took three years. Craftsmen sourced replacement materials from the Netherlands when local alternatives couldn't match the originals. The stained glass repair required specialists from Yogyakarta.
Building B during restoration, circa 2015. The scaffolding stayed up for eighteen months.
Two Buildings, Not One
Most visitors don't realize Lawang Sewu is actually two connected structures. Building A faces Tugu Muda. Building B sits behind it, connected by an elevated walkway. The basement complex runs beneath both.
- The grand staircase
- Main exhibition halls
- Photography spots
- Hundreds of visitors daily
- Railway artifacts storage
- Original telephone switchboard room
- Dutch executive offices
- Only 11 visitors in 4 hours (2019)
Building A gets ninety percent of the foot traffic. The grand staircase is there. The main exhibition halls are there. The photography spots are there.
Building B is quieter. The railway artifacts are stored there. The original telephone switchboard room is there. The administrative offices where Dutch railway executives actually worked are there.
I spent four hours in Building B during my 2019 visit. I encountered eleven other visitors the entire time. Building A had hundreds.
The basement is a separate issue. PT KAI restricts access to guided tours only. Groups go through every thirty minutes during peak hours. The tours last fifteen minutes. Guides spend twelve of those minutes on wartime history and alleged paranormal activity. Architecture gets the remaining three.
The connecting walkway between Building A and Building B. Most visitors never cross it.
The Ghost Problem
Lawang Sewu appears on every "Most Haunted Places in Indonesia" list. The 2007 horror film "Lawang Sewu" brought international attention. Ghost hunting television programs filmed here throughout the 2010s.
The haunted reputation brings visitors. It also shapes expectations in ways that damage the actual experience.
The basement allegedly held Japanese prisoners during World War II. Executions allegedly occurred there. The evidence for these claims is thin. Semarang historians I've spoken with place prisoner detention at other locations in the city. The basement's primary wartime function was storage.
This doesn't stop the ghost tours. It doesn't stop visitors from taking photos expecting to capture apparitions. It doesn't stop the guides from repeating unverified stories.
The heritage value gets buried under entertainment value. A building that represents colonial engineering, tropical architecture, and Indonesian railway history becomes a backdrop for spooky selfies.
I'm not saying the ghost tourism is entirely negative. It keeps the building funded. It brings visitors who might otherwise never encounter colonial heritage sites. Some percentage of those visitors develop genuine interest.
The ratio just feels wrong to me.
Visiting Properly
Morning visits between 7 and 9 AM offer the best photography light and smallest crowds. The building faces east. Sunrise hits the main facade directly.
Tuesday through Thursday mornings are quietest. Weekend afternoons are worst. School holiday periods bring organized student groups. Avoid those weeks entirely if possible.
The basement tours book up on weekends. Arrive before 10 AM to secure a spot. Weekday basement tours rarely have waiting lists.
Morning light through the second-floor windows. I took this at 7:40 AM on a Wednesday.
Most visitors spend forty to sixty minutes total. They see Building A ground floor, take staircase photos, maybe do the basement tour, and leave. They miss the second floor entirely. They never enter Building B.
The railway museum content in Building B deserves an hour by itself. Original equipment from the colonial era. Photographs of the railway network construction. Documentation of the Semarang-Tanggung line, one of Java's first railways.
What Semarang Heritage Society Recommends
I attended a heritage walking tour led by the Semarang Heritage Society in 2019. Their suggested approach to Lawang Sewu differs completely from standard tourist behavior.
I've followed this sequence on my last three visits. The experience improved substantially.
Current Condition
The building looks excellent as of my most recent visit in August 2025. Maintenance standards have held since the restoration completed. The grounds stay clean. The exhibits rotate periodically.
Building B's air conditioning failed during my August visit. Staff said repairs were scheduled for September. I haven't confirmed whether those happened.
The gift shop in Building A stocks decent reproduction materials. Maps of the colonial railway network. Photographs of the original construction. A few books on Semarang architectural heritage. Prices run reasonable.
The coffee stall near the entrance serves acceptable kopi tubruk. I wouldn't make a special trip for it.
The gift shop selection, August 2025. The railway maps are worth considering.