Besok, 17 Agustus 2010, merupakan peringatan
. Sungguh suatu hal yang sangat membanggakan bagi saya sebagai anak bangsa jika saya bisa mempersembahkan sebuah
posting di blog terkait dengan peringatan HUT tanah air tercinta. (*Hahaha...sedikit berlebihan memang)
But, saya tidak berniat membuat
posting tentang sejarah kemerdekaan. Kali ini saya akan menghadirkan
posting tentang salah satu bangunan bersejarah di Indonesia, yaitu Monumen Nasional.
Nah, posting kali ini saya tulis dengan menggunakan bahasa Inggris. Sebenarnya, artikel ini adalah tugas bahasa Inggris saya saat masih kelas X semester II. Ketika itu Mr. Arpani memang menyuruh murid-muridnya untuk mendeskripsikan objek-objek wisata terkemuka di dunia. Saya pun memilih Monumen Nasional sebagai topik artikel saya.
So, here it is the article.
NATIONAL MONUMENT
A. Background of ConstructionFollowing the Dutch recognition of Indonesian independence on December 27th, 1949, the Indonesian government returned to Jakarta from Yogyakarta in 1950. Then, President Soekarno began to contemplate the construction of a national monument comparable to the Eiffel Tower on the square in front of the presidential palace (Istana Merdeka).
On August 17th, 1954, a National Monument Committee was established and a design competition was held in 1955. This attracted 51 entries, but only one design, by Frederich Silaban, met any of the criteria determined by the committee, which included reflecting the character of Indonesia in a building capable of lasting for centuries. Then, the chairman of the jury team asked Silaban to show his design to Soekarno. However, Soekarno did not like the design. Soekarno liked the monument to be designed in the form of linga and yoni. Because of that, Silaban was asked to design a monument as Soekarno wanted, but his design was so large that it wouldn’t be able for Indonesia to build it because of the economic condition at that time. Silaban refused to design a smaller monument and he suggest to delay the monument construction until the Indonesian economy improved.
Then, Soekarno asked the architect R.M. Soedarsono to continue the design. Soedarsono incorporated the numbers 17, 8 and 45, representing the August 17th, 1945 Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, in the dimensions of the monument.
B. ConstructionThe construction of National Monument proceeded in 3 stages. The first stage was from 1961 until 1965. The construction began officially on August 17th, 2009 when Soekarno laid the cornerstone. A total of 284 piles were used for the foundation block. A further 360 piles were driven in for the museum foundations with work being completed on March 1962. The walls of the museum in the base were completed on October 1962. Then, the construction of obelisk finished on August 1963.
The second stage was from 1966 until 1968. It was delayed because of the shortage of funding and the aftermath of the 30 September Movement coup attempt.
In the final stage, from 1969 until 1976, the dioramas for the historical museum were added. Then, the monument was officially opened to the public on July 12th, 1975. At that time, the name of the monument was Gambir Square. Then, the governor changed the name into Ikada Square. After several times, the name was changed into Merdeka Square. Then, the name was changed again into Monas Square. Nowadays, the name of this monument is Monas Park.
