The Palace of the Governor-General in Batavia's Koningsplein was the centre of colonial administration from 1800 and onwards. The conditions in the old downtown or Benedenstad had grown positively pestilential by the late 18th century and the Dutch had planned to move southwards away from the dirty canals.

The new governmental complexes by the Koningsplein were much larger and had wide open spaces, something that the cramped Old Batavia could not offer. Today, this palace is used by the President of Indonesia as his residence and office and called the National Palace (Istana Negara.)

Photo taken by famous Batavia photography atelier Woodbury and Page ca. 1860.