# The Grote Postweg (Great Postal Road) near Rajapolah

- By: Antoine Auguste Joseph Payen (Doornik (Henegouwen), 1792–1853)
- Date: 1828
- Medium: canvas, oil paint (paint)
- Classification: painting
- Dimensions: height 167 cm x width 140 cm
- Credit line: On loan from the Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde
- Museum: [Rijksmuseum](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/SK-C-1718--4de6313db221394dd56425b7d9f5a712)
- Rights: [Public Domain Mark](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/33ed75a169e3c8eba9e5b0b30f194648.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Commissioned by the Dutch king, Payen painted the Grote Postweg, the main thoroughfare on Java. This thousand-kilometre-long road from West to East Java was built in one year (1808). Thousands of Indonesian workers died during its construction. The Grote Postweg afforded the Netherlands greater military control over Java. Ordinary Javanese citizens were not allowed to use the new route.