Pancasila Building
Pancasila Building () is a historic building located in Central Jakarta, Indonesia. The name "Pancasila" refers to the speech delivered by Sukarno in the building on which he explained the concept of Pancasila, a philosophical concept which would be the foundation of the Indonesian nation, on June 1, 1945. Built in the early 1830s, the building is one of the many 19th-century colonial landmarks in Jakarta. The Pancasila Building currently belongs to and is under the preservation of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. History. The building was built in the Weltevreden neighborhood, a parcel of land acquired  by Cornelis Chastelein on 6 March 1697 on the east side of the "bovenstad" (the Upper Town) in what is now the area to the east of Merdeka Square. It was built in 1830 as a residence for Prince (Hertog) Bernhard van Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1792-1862), a German-born Dutch Royal Army Commander. It was designed in a Neoclassical Empire Style on the east bank of the Ciliwung. The adjacent park and street Hertogspark (also called Jalan Pejambon) was named after him. In 1918, the building housed the Volksraad of the Dutch East Indies, the first national-level council  which included native Indonesian representation. It received the name "Volksraadgebouw" or Building of the Volksraad). With the dissolution of the Volksraad during the Japanese occupation, from 1943, the building was re-purposed for the Central Advisory Council, an advisory body set up by the Japanese, and in 1945 was used by the Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence (BPUPK). On 1 June 1945, future Indonesian president Sukarno gave a speech before the BPUPK in which he outlined the philosophy of the Indonesian state, the Pancasila After Indonesian independence, in the early 1950, the building was transferred to the State  Department, and then to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was renamed "Gedung Pancasila" or Pancasila Building on June 1, 1964. During the 1960s, the building was used to educate prospective diplomats. Today, the building is mainly used for important ceremonies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.