World Heritage Identification Number: 1610
World Heritage since: 2019
Category: Cultural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇮🇩 Indonesia
Continent: Asia
UNESCO World Region: Asia and the Pacific
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Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto: A Unique Blend of Tradition and Modernity
The Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019, offers a fascinating glimpse into the intersection of traditional practices and modern industrialization in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Situated in the rugged terrain of West Sumatra, Indonesia, this heritage site stands as a testament to the ingenuity and resilience of its creators and the indigenous Minangkabau people who played a crucial role in its development.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
Built for the extraction, processing and transport of high-quality coal in an inaccessible region of Sumatra, this industrial site was developed by the Netherlands East Indies’ government in the globally important period of industrialisation from the late 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. The workforce was recruited from the local Minangkabau people and supplemented by Javanese and Chinese contract workers, and convict labourers from Dutch-controlled areas. It comprises the mining site and company town, coal storage facilities at the port of Emmahaven and the railway network linking the mines to the coastal facilities. The Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage was built as an integrated system that enabled the efficient deep-bore extraction, processing, transport and shipment of coal. It is also an outstanding testimony of exchange and fusion between local knowledge and practices and European technology.
Encyclopedia Record: Ombilin Coal Mine
The Ombilin Coal Mine is a coal mine near Sawahlunto, West Sumatra, Indonesia. It is located in a narrow valley along the Bukit Barisan mountains, among the Polan, Pari, and Mato hills, approximately 70 kilometres (43 mi) northeast of Padang. Coal was discovered in the mid-19th century by Willem Hendrik de Greve, and mining began in the area in 1876. The mine is the oldest coal mining site in Southeast Asia.Additional Site Details
Area: 268.18 hectares
(iv) — Outstanding example of a type of building or landscape
Coordinates: -0.7666255556 , 100.7378833333
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© Boy Lawson, CC BY-SA 3.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
