Descriptive

                     Van Der Wijk Fortress

   Van Der Wijk fortress is a fortress which seems like a football stadium.
It is located in Gombong City, Kebumen Regency, Central Java, about 300 m from the  Kebumen – Yogyakarta main road.
   The most distinctive feature of Van Der Wijk fortress is its octagonal shape. Its extent reaches 7.168 m². The height of the fortress reaches 10 meters. It consists of two floors. The walls are 1,4 meters thick. The floors are 1,1 meters thick. Most of the building's shapes are walls, including the roof which is from  terracota. On the first and second floors there are 16 big rooms which are 18 x 6,5 meters each. Small rooms on the first floor have a variety of sizes. There are 27 rooms. Meanwhile, on the second floor there are 25 rooms. On the first floor there are 4 gates, 72 windows, 63 doors to another rooms and doors to get out from the fortress, 8 stairs to the second floor and two emergency stairs. On the second floor there are 84 windows, 70 connecting doors and 4 stairs to the roof.
   This fortress was a Dutch East Indies bastion which was built in about the 18th century. The name Van Der Wijk comes from the name of a commander at that time. His career was bright enough by silencing the Acehnese resistance. At the beginning when it was  established, this fortress was given the name Fort Cochius comes from one of the dutch General Frans David Cochius (1787-1876) who was assigned in Bagelen ( one of the resedency of  Kedu). Van Der Wijk was  military officer. His career was bright because supposedly he was capble of winning the war in Indonesia. There is no sure note in history about when this fortress was constructed, but there are people who estimated it was built at 1827.
    Van Der Wijk fortess was a  military barracks  which was originally used for dumping the strength of the troops of Prince Diponegoro. Because of his greatness  which was  also supported  by the local leaders in south of Java, The Dutch applied fortress tactics called Stelsel. It was construction of fortress in locations that have been mastered by them. The aim was clear, it was for strengthening the defense and  narrowing the space of anemies, especially in residency of south Kedu. This fortress was established from the initiative of  General Van den Bosch.
   When the war of Prince Diponegoro happened in about 1825-1830 , Van Der Wijck fortress was used as a place of defense. Nevertheless, there are a number of experts who are not sure if the fortress a bastion or logistics fortress and Puppilen School or school for military candidates. Certainly there is no history noted for what exactly the fortress was functioned.
   After the Dutch colonialism, Van Der Wijck Fortress functioned to train Japanese-trained Indonesian army called PETA as an additional troop against the Allies. Around that time, all the Dutch writings in the fortress were painted black. Then used for the Indonesian army. In fact, during the the Royal Dutch-Indies Army called KNIL, the New Order ruler, Soeharto, became one of inhabitants of the fortress.

Quoted from
https://googleweblight.com/i?u=https://m.kaskus.co.id/thread/51559fda05346a5e54000008/sejarah-benteng-merah-belanda-benteng-van-der-wijck-gombong/&hl=id-ID&geid=1026