One of the most memorable place that I had visited during my trip to Medan is the Tjong A Fie Mansion which is located in Jl. Jend A Yani, No. 105 Medan. This grand Mansion was built in the year 1895 – more than a century old and a charming historical site in Medan. The entrance fee to this Mansion was Rp75,000 per person which I felt was relatively expensive as compared to the admission price of museums in similar country liked Malaysia. Perhaps one of the reason for the high cost was that there was a personal guide in the Mansion, who would explained the history of this Mansion as I walked around viewing the exhibits.

Tjong A Fie was a successful businessman who had built a successful business empire; and at the same time contributed his time and money to many charitable acts in Medan. I think his guiding principle in life was best summed up in his quotes ” There on the earth where I stand, I hold the sky. Success and glory consist not in what I have gotten but in what I have given.” This Mansion was his residential home and visitors can see a variety of exhibits – old furniture, his bed, tables, dinning area, grand living rooms, old photos, beautiful teapots, lots of antiques, etc. The entire Tjong A Fie Mansion is only 2 storeys, but it is very spacious. There are 35 rooms in the entire Mansion and I liked the beautiful decorative high ceilings and large wooden windows. The structure of  this Mansion seems to be a blend of Peranakan, traditional Chinese and European architecture styles combined into one.

I spend about an hour during this visit. I continued to walked around the rooms of the this Mansion after the young guide had completed the guided tour. I could sense that I had too many things to see and to little time to do it. So if you want to visit and view each exhibit in more detail, try to plan for a 2 hours duration for this place before moving to your next appointment. I think this Mansion would be great for those newly wed couples who wish to take photography shots – it would be very memorable indeed.

Anyway, I would be putting up more photos of the Tjong A Fie Mansion in the Image gallery of my site at Indonesiapics.com   –  do make time to visit this place if you are someone interested in antiques, historical sites and cultures. This place is within the city of Medan, so irregardless of which hotel that you may be staying, it is convenient to reach here by cab.