Photos courtesy of Scott Merrillees
When we speak of historical sites, what usually comes to mind might be citadels, monuments or even public parks. Somewhere as practical and everyday as a hospital rarely enters that picture. Yet one of Jakarta’s continuously operating hospitals – known today as Primaya PGI Cikini Hospital – stands on grounds that have served as a private estate, a grand exhibition venue and a medical institution. Its history brings together the charitable work of Dutch missionaries and the legacy of Raden Saleh.
The hospital was established on 12 January 1898 as the Koningin Emma Ziekenhuis (Queen Emma Hospital), through the efforts of Reverend Cornelis de Graaf and his wife, Adriana Josina de Graaf-Kooman. After working with sick women and single mothers in Depok during the late nineteenth century, she helped establish an organisation in the Netherlands to provide church-funded medical care in the Dutch East Indies, particularly for those who could not otherwise afford treatment. The couple raised funds for the initiative and secured a donation of approximately 100,000 guilders from Queen Emma of the Netherlands (1858–1934), whose support gave the hospital its name. Her contribution also enabled the establishment of the Queen Emma Foundation, which prompted nursing care and trained nurses at the hospital.
Following Queen Emma’s death in 1934, her daughter, Queen Wilhelmina (1880–1962) continued the royal family’s connection with the institution. On 19 September 1937, it was announced that she had accepted the patronage of both the Association for Nursing in the Dutch East Indies and the hospital.
The site itself, however, had a different life before this. The hospital occupied part of the former estate of Raden Saleh Syarif Bustaman (1811–1880), Indonesia’s most renowned nineteenth-century painter. After returning to Batavia in 1851 following more than two decades in Europe, Saleh built a neo-Gothic country residence in Cikini the next year. Surrounded by an extensive private estate, the property later included Batavia’s Botanical and Zoological Gardens after Saleh donated around ten hectares of land in 1864. Following his death in 1880, the mansion and its surrounding grounds remained intact as the estate passed into a new period of use.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (1863–1914) visited Raden Saleh’s former estate in 1893 during his world tour, five years before the hospital was established. The future heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, whose assassination in 1914 helped trigger the First World War, came to the grounds during the 1893 Batavia Exhibition, which was held on the estate. In 1898, part of the property became Queen Emma Hospital, and Raden Saleh’s mansion was incorporated into the hospital complex.
Even after the hospital was established, much of the former estate remained intact. Raden Saleh’s mansion continued to stand within spacious gardens, while early postcards show nurses taking afternoon tea on lawns where the painter had once welcomed guests. Incorporated into the hospital complex and adapted for medical use, the Gothic residence remains one of Batavia’s most distinctive nineteenth-century houses as is currently undergoing renovation.
The institution later became known as Rumah Sakit PGI CIkini, signifying its affiliation with the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (Persekutuan Gereja-Gereja di Indonesia). In 2021, Primaya Hospital Group partnered with the PGI Cikini Health Foundation to modernise the hospital while continuing its health care mission, and thus giving birth to its current name, Primaya PGI Cikini Hospital.
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References:
Heuken, Adolf. Historical Sites of Jakarta. 6th ed. Cipta Loka Caraka, 2000.
Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië. “Queen Patroness of ‘Tjikini’ Hospital.” Batavia, 18 September 1937. Retrieved via Delpher.nl.
Merrillees, Scott. Greetings from JAKARTA: Postcards of a Capital 1900–1950. Hanusz Publishing, 2014.
“Rumah Sakit PGI Cikini Jakarta: A Garden Hospital with Loving Touch.” Rumah Sakit PGI Cikini. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Accessed 20 April 2019.
Franz Ferdinand’s World Tour: Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s Notes from His Voyage Around the World, 1893. “Miyanoshita, 16 August 1893.”
“Aartshertog Frans Ferdinand.” Dutch newspaper report, Vienna, 9 April 1893. Retrieved via Delpher.nl.
“Tentoonstelling te Batavia 1893.” Dutch newspaper notice concerning the 1893 Batavia Exhibition. Retrieved via Delpher.nl.
