Qualla: The Collector Who Could Not Stop

The Collector Who Could Not Stop: Introduction

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Annidafattiya, CC BY 4.0. Godfried Hariowald von Faber started collecting photographs of Surabaya in 1922 because he could not help himself. A German-born resident of the Dutch East Indies, von Faber had the collector's compulsion -- the belief that if he did not save something, no one would. He photographed street scenes, colonial architecture, Javanese daily life, anything that struck him as worth preserving. By 1933, the collection had outgrown his private life, so he founded a society and gave it a name befitting the colonial era: the Stedelijk Historisch Museum Soerabaia. It was inaugurated at Surabaya's Town Hall on July 25, 1937. What von Faber could not have known was that his museum would outlive the colonial government that sanctioned it, the empire that employed him, and von Faber himself -- though not without several near-death experiences of its own.

Image: Annidafattiya | CC BY 4.0

The Collector Who Could Not Stop: From Town Hall to Oblivion

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Annidafattiya, CC BY 4.0. The museum grew quickly. After its inauguration, it moved to a building on Jalan Taman Mayangkara, then expanded again to a larger space on Jalan Simpang 3 -- now Jalan Pemuda 3 -- where it acquired an exhibition room, a library, offices, and an auditorium. Surabayans came to kno...

Image: Annidafattiya | CC BY 4.0

The Collector Who Could Not Stop: Rescued by the Republic

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gunawan Kartapranata, CC BY-SA 4.0. The museum might have disappeared entirely if not for a series of institutional rescues. In 1964, Professor M. Soetopo donated funds to keep the foundation afloat. Then the national government stepped in. On May 23, 1972, the museum reopened under a new Indonesian name: Museum Ja...

Image: Gunawan Kartapranata | CC BY-SA 4.0

The Collector Who Could Not Stop: The Name on the Door

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Almasiva Tirta Maedy, CC0. With state status came a new name: Mpu Tantular, after the 14th-century Javanese poet who served in the court of King Hayam Wuruk during the golden age of the Majapahit Empire. The choice was deliberate and resonant. Mpu Tantular authored the Kakawin Sutasoma, a Buddhist poem tha...

Image: Almasiva Tirta Maedy | CC0

The Collector Who Could Not Stop: Four Addresses, Fifteen Hundred Artifacts

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gunawan Kartapranata, CC BY-SA 4.0. The museum has moved four times since its founding, each relocation reflecting a shift in its identity. From the Town Hall to Jalan Taman Mayangkara, to Jalan Pemuda, back to Taman Mayangkara in 1975 (inaugurated by Governor Sunandar Priyosudarmo on August 12, 1977), and finally,...

Image: Gunawan Kartapranata | CC BY-SA 4.0