Historical Buildings and Sites in Jakarta: Gedung Departemen Keuangan.
Having successful defending the province of Friesland danGroningen of the Prussian attack., on January 28, 1807 at the suggestion of the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, Daendles was sent to the Dutch East Indies as the 36th Governor-General. Daendels was assigned mainly to protect the island of Java from the attack of British troops. Java is the only Dutch-French colonies that have not fallen into British hands after the Isle de France and Mauritius on tahun1807.
Having landed on Java and Found the old city of Batavia
an unhealthy place to live and then in 1808, Governor-General Herman Willem
Daendles ordered to move the center of government to Weltervreden. Daendels decided on
March 7, 1809 to build a new palace for governor generals at Weltevreden, now
in Central Jakarta.
At the beginning of his reign in 1809, Daendels already started to build a large and magnificent palace in Lapangan Banteng and is now used as Gedung Departemen Keuangan (the Ministry of Finance). Daendels meant that this palace as his new capital center in Weltevreden. The palace was designed by Colonel JC Schultze. Building materials were taken from the old castle Kasteel Batavia beginning broken down there in 1809. However, the building was completed in years between 1826 and 1828 by the Engineers Tromp on the orders of the then Governor-General du Bus de Ghisignies.