Diponegoro is said to have spent about a month in Jakarta before he was exiled to Makassar, South Sulawesi, where he died in 1855.
Dozens of elementary school students flocked to a room at the Jakarta History Museum in Kota Tua, West Jakarta, on a recent Tuesday.
The students were observing an exhibit while they attentively listened to a narration about the chamber where Prince Diponegoro was held by Dutch colonialists nearly two centuries ago.
Diponegoro is said to have spent about a month in Jakarta before he was exiled to Makassar, South Sulawesi, where he died in 1855.
The prince, son of Yogyakarta's King Hamengkubuwono III, was proclaimed a national hero for his leading role in the Java War between 1825 and 1830. His heroism inspired the spirit for independence from the Dutch.
The Diponegoro chamber is the latest exhibit at the museum, popularly known as Fatahillah Museum, to be officiated by Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan.
Not many are aware that the prince had been briefly detained in Jakarta.
Like Putri, one of the visiting students, who said that she had just learned about that bit of history during her visit to the museum.
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