The National Museum, Indonesia's Cultural History in One Place

Located on Medan Merdeka Barat, the National Museum is the pride of Jakarta, providing visitors an insight into Indonesia’s long history in cultural heritage from prehistoric days up to today. Having recently been expanded, the museum houses an impressive collection of no less than 109,342 objects covering Indonesia’s Prehistory, Archaeology, Ethnography, Numismatics-Heraldic, Geography and Historical Relics.

Here are statues and stone inscriptions discovered on sites throughout the archipelago starting from the first century AD, a complete collection of batik cloths and woven textiles produced through the years in the different islands. While on the top floor one finds displayed the collection of gold and silver ornaments and jewelry once owned by the rajahs and sultans of the archipelago.

Officially opened in 1868 the Museum came popularly to be known as Gedung Gajah (The House of Elephant) or Gedung Arca (The House of Statues). It was named Gedung Gajah after the bronze elephant statue in the front yard, which was a donation from King Chulalongkorn of Thailand in 1871. It was also known as Gedung Arca on account of the large variety of statues from different periods on display here. In 1979 the Museum was officially named the Museum Nasional or the National Museum. The Museum is not only a centre for research and study into the national and cultural heritage, but it also functions as an educative, cultural and recreational information centre.

Get There

The National Museum is located at Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat 12 Central Jakarta, right the opposite of Monas. You can ride a TransJakarta bus and stop at Monas terminal. It's only about 200 meters away from the Museum.

Contact information: 

Phone: (62 21) 381-1551/386-8172 
Fax (62 21) 381-1076 
email: [email protected] 
website: www.museumnasional.org