100 Years of a Forgotten Expo

The sign 'Koloniale Tentoonstelling 1914' hangs right under the curve of the giant steel archway. Four towers stand to the right and left. The archway, lined with hanging lamps, converges with the two lines of European style buildings. At night the towers are lit up like lighthouses by the sea. That was one of the entrances to the Koloniale Tentoonstelling.

One hundred years ago, in 1914, an international trade fair was held in Semarang, on the island of Java, by the Dutch East Indies government. The Koloniale Tentoonstelling, or the Colonial Exhibition, put on from August 20 to November 22, 1914, was the largest trade expo in Asia during that period. It was participated by almost every region of the archipelago, besides foreign countries such as Japan, China, India, Pakistan, Australia, and the United States, and it included 105 pavilions covering 39,260 hectares.