It was 4 p.m. when Sri Kusumawati, head of the Jakarta Historic Museum Management Unit, and a number of people from UNESCO, AusHeritage and Indonesia Architecture Documentation Center (PDA), walked around the Fatahillah Museum of History in Kota Tua, West Jakarta.

Sri said the team, which already had a lot of experience preserving historical sites, was sharing with her some information on how to preserve heritage sites in light of the fact that several parts of the museum needed to be restored and maintained.

'€œMany years ago the bell was still ringing every day at 1 p.m. to mark the time, I am still learning from these people how to make it work again,'€ Sri told The Jakarta Post, pointing her finger to an old bell on top of the building.

In the 18th century, the Fatahillah museum was used as the Dutch government'€™s City Hall in the capital, and the building was also home to courtrooms, prisons and a marriage registration office.

Built between 1707 and 1710 the 1,300 square-meter building complex was also a silent witness to a dark period in Indonesia'€™s history. Up until 1896, executions of criminals were carried out within the building'€™s compound.

 '€œThe place has a very long history and we need to do our best to preserve it. However, I am aware that it is not the same thing as maintaining a modern building. It is more complex in many respects,'€ she continued.

Sri added that being located not far from Ancol Beach in North Jakarta, the museum had a serious humidity issue and a period of heavy rain could potentially damage the building'€™s structure. She said she hoped that after the team'€™s visit, they could give her technical recommendations on how to deal with such issues.

Febriyanti Suryaningsih, PDA'€™s executive director, said the PDA, AusHeritage and UNESCO had engaged in various programs to work with the owners of the historical sites and the locals living around the sites.

'€œThe programs include capacity training to teach them how to preserve heritage sites. There are also heritage clinics where the sites'€™ owners can come to us and ask about things from legal to technical issues,'€ Febriyanti said.

She said the team had also recently visited the residential area around Jl. Tongkol in Ancol, North Jakarta, located side by side with a Batavian wall and fort built by the Dutch colonial government.

She emphasized that residents could live side-by-side with historical sites as long as they were committed to preserving them.

'€œWhen I say preservation, I mean the simple things residents can do to prevent decay. Things like preventing littering as well as not uprooting plants that grow around the historical sites,'€ she said.

Febriyanti went on to say that UNESCO had also physically revitalized a number of historical sites.

Kedai Seni Djakarte, a restaurant that opened in 2013 and located in the corner of Taman Fatahillah, used to be the garage of the historic Jasa Raharja Insurance firm office that stands just behind the restaurant.

Susi Ratnawati, the building'€™s owner, said when she started to open the place, the roof and ceiling were in very bad shape and leaks could be seen everywhere. '€œI spent more than Rp 100 million [US$7,241] repairing it, but the leaks just wouldn'€™t stop,'€ Susi said.

'€œFortunately after visiting my restaurant, UNESCO carried out major repairs to the roof and ceiling using similar materials with the building'€™s original materials. The building is finally fixed now,'€ she continued.

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