SIAK -Istana (Palace)

Construction on the palace began in 1889 by the 11th Sultan and was finished by the 12th Sultan when the Siak kingdom still existed. The decorating wall tiles come from China, the marble floor tiles from Italy. The windows are decorated with stained glass. Inside the palace there are two beautiful spiral staircases. It is home to one of the two only existing and still working gramophones in the world. The second one is in Germany. The palace is guarded by eagles, who sit on top of most of the pillars at the gate and the palace. Because of the unstable geographic conditions, the ground underneath the palace is constantly shifting, resulting in the need for constant renovation.
The former Sultans cooperated with their Dutch colonial lords in order to export rubber. When Indonesia became independent in 1945 the palace was given to government because the last Sultan didn’t have any descendents to continue the kingdom.