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Pontianak is the capital of West Kalimantan in Indonesia, on the delta of the Kapuas River in western Borneo where it meets the Landak, and it is famous as the Equatorial City, with the Equator Monument, the Kadriah Palace of its sultans and the river life of the Kapuas. About 686,000 people lived in the city in mid 2025.
Sharif Abdurrahman Alkadrie founded the town on 23 October 1771 at the meeting of the rivers, built a palace and a mosque, and was crowned the first sultan of Pontianak in 1778. The sultanate lasted until 1950. Chinese miners arrived in the 18th century, and the Dutch made the town the seat of their West Borneo residency.
Today the city centre lies less than 3 kilometres south of the equator. Its Malay, Dayak and Chinese communities have given it a sultan's mosque, a Dayak longhouse, an old Chinese temple and a large new Catholic cathedral, and its food mixes Chinese, Malay and Dayak cooking, from choi pan to pengkang. Visitors come for the monument, the palace and mosque by the river, the provincial museum and the Kapuas waterfront.
Keraton Kadriah in Pontianak is the wooden palace of the Pontianak Sultanate, built from 1771 to 1778 by Sultan Syarif Abdurrahman Alkadrie where the Kapuas and Landak rivers meet. Its yellow halls keep royal heirlooms and a French mirror called the Kaca Seribu, with 13 old cannons in front.
Masjid Jami Pontianak, also called the Sultan Syarif Abdurrahman Mosque, is the oldest mosque in Pontianak, founded with the city in 1771 beside the palace and facing the Kapuas. Almost all of it is ironwood, with a four-tiered shingle roof and a pulpit shaped like the deck of a ship.
Pontianak Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Joseph, is the seat of the Archbishop of Pontianak and was rebuilt and opened in 2014 for about 3,000 worshippers. It blends Roman and Middle Eastern forms under a great dome, with Dayak motifs outside and Chinese and European touches inside.
Vihara Bodhisatva Karaniya Metta in Pontianak is the oldest Chinese temple in the city, on the bank of the Kapuas River near Pasar Kapuas Indah. It joined three older shrines in 1906, and its wooden posts and roof frame are still fixed with pegs and rattan instead of iron nails.
The Equator Monument in Pontianak marks the line between the northern and southern hemispheres beside the Kapuas River in North Pontianak. The ironwood marker of 1928 was rebuilt in 1938 and is kept inside a domed hall, while a copy five times its size was added when the hall opened in 1991.
The Kapuas River in Pontianak is the longest river in Indonesia, flowing 1,143 kilometres from the heart of Borneo to the sea, and its northern arm runs right through the city. Boats, ferries and riverside houses line its banks, and the city is building its waterfront for river tourism.
The Kapuas I Bridge in Pontianak is a 420-metre bridge across the Kapuas River that has joined the city centre with the rest of West Kalimantan since 1982. It began as a toll bridge, and a twin span opened in 2024, with wide views over the boats and the river below.
Monumen Sebelas Digulis in Pontianak stands on the Tanjungpura University roundabout and honours eleven Sarekat Islam leaders of West Kalimantan whom the Dutch exiled to Boven Digoel. Opened in 1987, its eleven tall posts are shaped like sharpened bamboo spears.
Museum Provinsi Kalimantan Barat in Pontianak is the provincial museum, open since 1983 on Jalan Ahmad Yani. Its rooms cover the Malay, Dayak and Chinese peoples of the province, with stone tools, a sultan's dress, coins and textiles, and ceramics from China, Vietnam, Japan and Singkawang.
Rumah Radakng in Pontianak is a replica of the longhouse of the Kanayatn Dayak people, opened in 2013 on Jalan Letjen Sutoyo by the governor of West Kalimantan. Young people and Dayak art groups use it for dance, music and festivals, and it shows the traditional longhouse form of the province.
Choi pan is a steamed dumpling of Pontianak and West Kalimantan brought by Chinese settlers, and its Hakka name means cake filled with vegetables. A thin skin of rice flour wraps jicama, taro or chives, and it is topped with fried shallots and steamed rather than fried like a pastel.
Pengkang is a snack of Pontianak and West Kalimantan made of sticky rice filled with dried shrimp, shaped into a triangle and wrapped in banana leaf. It is grilled clamped between bamboo and served with sambal kepah, a clam relish, and satay, and was once food taken to the fields.
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