Visit Museums in Jakarta : Museum Nasional.

Museum Nasional.

The National Museum of Indonesia is an archeological, historical, ethnological, and geographical museum located in Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta, right on the west side of Merdeka Square. This museum is popularly known as Elephant Buildingafter the elephant statue in its forecourt. Its broad collections cover all of Indonesia's territory and almost all of its history.

The collection of the Monumen Nasional consists of 115 objects from across the Indonesian archipelago. These items represent the development of culture from earliest times along with a sampling of the current material effects of the nation’s more than five hundred ethnic groups.

Ethnic Group Map.

The collection can be categorized into the following major group : Archaeology, Ethnography, Pre-Hystory, Ceramics, Gold and Treasures, and Historical collection.Archaeology consists of stone and metal statues, inscriptions, and ceremonial objects, many dating back from the Classical Hindu-Javanese period. The stone sculpture collection is impressive in size, beauty, and uniqueness. The inscription collection include the fifth-century Yupa inscription, an example of the oldest written characters used in Indonesia.

A Stone Sculpture Collection.

Ethnography is the largest and most diverse collection in the Museum and displays objects used by ethnic groups from many islands of the Indonesian archipelago. The collection includes household utensils, weapons, musical instruments, ceremonial objects, children’s toys, weaving, harvesting and fishing tools, and scale replicas of traditional houses.

Ceramics is the largest collection of ceramics in Southeast Asia, consisting of ceramics from China, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Japan, and Europe, all of which were found in Indonesia. The collection highlights trade and communications across the region.  

  

Pre-history includes fossil remains and artifacts from the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic eras. Displays describing the discovery of Java Man and Solo Man are complemented by stone tools, ornaments, and earthenware household items. Bronze artefacts, including drums, show the influences of the Dong Son bronze culture used in Indonesia.

Gold and Treasures comprises two collections exhibited together, the archeological collection (precious stones and metals from eight-15th century) and the ethnographic collection (precious items from kingdoms and sultanates). The centerpiece of the archeological collection is the wonoboyo Treasures, which features gold and silver jewellry, gold coins, and ceremonial objects from the 10th century.

Historical Collection reflects the colonial period and includes objects such as cannons, inscriptions, and the Dutch furniture carved from teakwood. A stone inscription (a padrao) tells of the arrival of the Porguese on Java in 1520.

Opening Hours of Museum Nasional.