House of Sampoerna

Kretek - cigarettes of tobacco blended with clove, which crackle when they burn, hence the name - are an Indonesian invention of the late nineteenth century and became the dominant form of smoking in the country. The House of Sampoerna occupies a compound built in 1862 as a Dutch orphanage and bought in 1932 by Liem Seeng Tee, a Chinese immigrant who built the Sampoerna company from a street stall; the museum covers his life, the clove trade, marketing history and a collection of the machinery. What draws most visitors is the adjoining working floor, where hundreds of women hand-roll and cut kretek at high speed - viewed from a balcony above, with rates that are startling to watch. Whether a tobacco company museum should be a tourist attraction is a fair question.

History

The compound was built in 1862 and used as an orphanage run by the Dutch, and in 1932 Liem Seeng Tee, the founder of Sampoerna, bought it to serve as the company's first major cigarette factory (Wikipedia, House of Sampoerna).

Highlights

• A working hand-rolling floor - hundreds of women rolling kretek at speed, seen from above.
• An 1862 compound - the Dutch orphanage the company bought in 1932.
• The kretek story - the clove-tobacco invention and its industry.
• A migrant's business history - Liem Seeng Tee from street stall to conglomerate.

When to go

All year; the rolling floor works weekday mornings. Two hours.

What to expect

The rolling floor operates on working days only - come at a weekend and it is empty. It is a tobacco company's own museum and reads as one. Photography of the floor is restricted.

Nearby

The Arab quarter and Ampel are close; the Surabaya old town is south.

Key facts