One of the brightest Instagram places in Semarang is an extraordinarily colorful quarter of the Rainbow Village (Kampung Pelangi). Painted houses with bizarre ornaments, multi-colored umbrellas over the pavements – all this watercolor entourage turned an ordinary area into a popular location for photoshoot lovers.

As they sometimes joke, the village appeared from the colored breath of a unicorn. Or colored houses grew with the wave of a magic wand – that’s how it can be explained to children. Nearly all surfaces – walls, roofs, stairs, bridge parapets – create a wonderful world full of bold fresh or cosh pastel shades.

The reason for the appearance of the village is quite down-to-earth and prosaic: local authorities tried to attract more guests to the city. They spent 300 million rupees (over US $ 20,000) to paint 232 houses (by the terms, at least three colors for each). As a result, the former city slums look like cartoon decorations: murals with hearts, multicolored flags, dotted panels, three-dimensional reliefs and other fun paintings and colored geometry.

Due to the social nets, travelers from all countries quickly knew about the new «country» resembling tempting candy wrappers. But with a marked difference: everything is real and ordinary city life goes on.

The Rainbow Village project was initiated by the school's director, Slamet Widodo, who was inspired by other cities with a similar multi-colored «make-up». Changing the appearance of the streets inspired citizens to clean up the nearby river. The local market quickly noticed the increase in sales of food and souvenirs – the simple power of ordinary street art!

This simple, mood-setting beauty attracts lots of tourists to the city. Moreover, Semarang plans to expand the upgrading project and come up with new colorful renovation options for other houses. It's amazing what colored stripes or layers of paint can do!