Model of the Vlakkenhoek lighthouse on Sumatra

Enthoven & Co. (mentioned on object), c. 1879

The full-scale, 60-metre-high version of this lighthouse was erected at Vlakkenhoek, on the southwest point of Sumatra. The tower was built in The Hague by Enthoven & Co., then shipped to Sumatra. The strength of the cast-iron structure was proven during the 1883 volcano eruption of Krakatoa; only the lighthouse withstood the tsunami that devastated everything else.

  • Artwork typescale model, presentation model
  • Object numberNG-MC-1412
  • Dimensionsheight 170.5 cm x diameter 34 cm
  • Physical characteristicsbrass, wood and mica

Enthoven & Co.

Model of a Lighthouse

The Hague, c. 1879

Inscriptions

  • inscription, above the door:ONDER DE REGERING VAN / Z.M. WILLEM III/ KONING DER NEDERLANDEN / ENZ: ENZ: ENZ: / OPGERIGT VOOR DRAAILICHT / EERSTE GROOTE / 1879 P. LEEMANS
  • inscription, on the back:L.I. Enthoven & Co / ’s GRAVENHAGE / 1879

Scientific examination and reports

  • X-radiography: Marije Meddeler, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 2013

Conservation

  • Ab Hoving, maart 2012: top reconstructed; weathervane resoldered
  • Marije Meddeler, 2013: cleaned; revarnished

Provenance

...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883

Object number: NG-MC-1412

Entry

Brass model of the lighthouse of Vlakkenhoek on Sumatra, on a wooden pedestal.

The model has sixteen sides, a door and thirty-two windows plus one facing the other side of the door. Above the door and the extra window the inscriptions are placed. The lighthouse has nineteen storeys including the top. Part of the wall near the base is left out to show the interior with stairs. The top has a dome-shaped roof with a weathervane shaped as an arrow.

The lighthouse of Vlakkenhoek on the south-west corner of Sumatra was built by the firm Enthoven & Co. in The Hague from 1878 to 1879 and was made entirely of cast iron. Cast iron lighthouses for the Dutch East Indies were shipped in parts from the Netherlands to be assembled on the spot. The strength of the construction was demonstrated by this lighthouse of Vlakkenhoek, which survived the Krakatoa eruption and resulting tidal waves easily, while everything surrounding it was swept away.

Scale (estimate) approx. 1:35.

Literature

J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1412; Encyclopedie Nederlands Indië, s.l. 1918, vol. 2, p. 494; W. Steffens, Kort overzicht uit de geschiedenis der bebakening van vaarwaters, reeden, enz. in den O.I. archipel, s.l. 1926; L. Crommelin and H. van Suchtelen, Nederlandse vuurtorens. Bouw en organisatie, Nieuwkoop 1978, pp. 44-46; H. Stevens (ed.), The Art of Technology: The Navy Model Collection in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam/Wormer 1995, pp. 68-71; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 232-33; M. Meddeler, Bouwmodel of pronkstuk? De besluitvorming en de behandeling van het model van de vuurtoren te Vlakkenhoek (Sumatra) vervaardigd uit messing, mica en hout, 2 vols., Amsterdam 2013, manuscript in RMA, inv. no. 747 C 5-6; G. van der Ham, De geschiedenis van Nederland in 100 voorwerpen, Amsterdam 2013, pp. 384-88; J. van der Vliet, ‘Nieuw licht op een oud vuurtorenmodel’, Scheepshistorie 17 (2014), pp. 104-09; H. Stevens, Bitter Spice: Indonesia and The Netherlands from 1600, Amsterdam 2015, pp. 66-81 (published in Dutch as Gepeperd verleden. Indonesië en Nederland sinds 1600)

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'Enthoven & Co., Model of a Lighthouse, The Hague, c. 1879', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200316200

(accessed 29 November 2025 16:40:59).