National Museum, Java, Indonesia

5MirshaandStu 5:00 PM Aug 17, 2022

Totally fulfilling
A beautifully curated exhibition which takes you on an historical journey of Indonesia. The permanent exhibition is informative and unexpected in the range on offer. The other aspect of the permanent exhibition is the international exhibition which has some exquisite and unusual pieces from some artists who originate in countries those of us, from the West, would not usually be exposed to. The size of the two permanent exhibition spaces is just right- 1-2 hours is sufficient, a nice amount of time. Note that although the website states it is open from 9am -7pm it shuts for lunch from 12pm until 1pm and take your own toilet paper.

4Ivo Carneiro De Sousa 5:00 PM Mar 12, 2020

Astonishing visit to the History of Java
The National Museum is a referential place for understanding the cultural mosaic of Indonesia and its complicated past merging Hindu-Buddhist traditions, Chinese trade, Muslim invasions, and the first historical contacts with Portuguese in the early 16th century, after that the Dutch colonial process that built up Batavia. The visitor is surprised at the museum entry with the Portuguese "padrão" (a stone column) with the arms of King Manuel (1495-1521), celebrating the treaty of Sunda Kelapa. Then, when you enter the large rooms and corridors of the museum, we are astonished by the vast amount of Hindu monuments, precious ceramics, woodcrafts, and textiles. It takes hours to construct an organized visual memory of all these thousands of objects. And this is the main problem of the National Museum: it still follows old 19th-century repositories of massive collections of all objects about historical cultures. The museum needs to select only some moving artifacts and use them to highlight us on the unique history of Java and later Indonesia. More virtual information and activities for children and teens are needed.