Sam Poo Kong

Sam Poo Kong stands at Simongan on what was once the shoreline, and the tradition is that Zheng He - the Ming admiral, a Muslim eunuch who commanded the treasure fleets in the early fifteenth century - put in here when his deputy fell ill, sheltered in a cave and left men behind, and that the cave became a shrine. What grew from it is a large red and gold complex of pavilions and altars, rebuilt and expanded repeatedly, most recently on a substantial scale in the 2000s, with a statue of the admiral. The devotion is genuinely mixed: Chinese Indonesians venerate Zheng He as Sam Poo Tay Djien, and Javanese Muslims come to the site as well, given his religion, so the complex functions across communities in a way few places do.

History

Tradition says the Chinese Muslim admiral Zheng He came ashore here by the Garang River, in a year put variously between 1400 and 1416, found a cave in a rocky hillside and used it for prayer, leaving a small temple behind. The original temple reportedly collapsed under a landslide in 1704 and was completely renovated in October 1724, with a new cave beside the old one, and in the mid-1800s the land belonged to a landlord who charged devotees to pray there (Wikipedia, Sam Poo Kong).

The main sights

• The cave shrine - the site the Zheng He tradition attaches to.
• Red and gold pavilions - the large rebuilt complex around the original cave.
• A statue of the admiral - the Ming commander the temple is dedicated to.
• Mixed devotion - Chinese Indonesian and Javanese Muslim visitors together.

When to go

All year; the Zheng He anniversary procession is in the seventh lunar month. Two hours.

Before you go

Ticketing is tiered - the cheaper ticket keeps you out of the inner temple areas. Much of the complex is a 2000s rebuild. Costume hire for photographs is heavily pushed at the gate.

Nearby

Lawang Sewu and the Kota Lama are in central Semarang.

Key facts