The renovation was completed in 1710 and the building was inaugurated by Governor General Abraham van Riebeeck as the administrative headquarter of the Dutch East India Company.

A Javanese freedom fighter Prince Diponegoro, who was treacherously arrested, was imprisoned here in 1830 before being banished to Manado, North Sulawesi.

Similarities including the domed cupola crowning the structure and a proportion typical of 17th-century Dutch city hall.

The Jakarta History Museum also contains the richest collection of Betawi-style furniture from the 17th to the 19th century.

[5] The museum also contains a replica of the Tugu Inscription (the original being in the National Museum) from the age of Great King Purnawarman, which is the evidence that the center of the Kingdom of Tarumanegara was located around the seaport of Tanjung Priok on the coast of Jakarta[citation needed].

There is also a replica of the 16th-century map of the Portuguese Padrao Monument, a historical evidence of the ancient Sunda Kelapa Harbor.

Conservation activities conducted with aid from the Dutch government were carried out starting in 2012[7] and the renovation was completed in February 2015.

A new "Conservation room" was added during the renovation, displaying the vision and mission of JOTR (Jakarta Old Town Reborn) for the future of Old Batavia.