National Museum of Indonesia

_{Museum Nasional}

The National Museum of Indonesia has existed in this same place since 1868. It is called Gedung Gajah by the locals, or Elephant Building, because of the statue of an elephant that stays in front of the museum.

_{Gedung Gajah - Elephant Building}

The museum has an old building that was connected to a more modern one by a glass atrium. This new building is a lot larger and has four floors.

_{Glass atrium connection}

_{New building, with four floors}

However, I still found the old part more interesting. It was an excellent introduction to the different cultures and history of Indonesia.

_{I found the old building collection more interesting}

_{A great introduction to the culture of Indonesia}

In the garden you will find the largest collection of Hindu and Buddhist stone sculptures in Indonesia. Some are over a thousand years old.

_{Stone sculptures in the garden}

The museum collection is divided into various rooms. Each one is dedicated to a group of objects. I really enjoyed the room where they show typical miniature houses from various parts of Indonesia. They showed samples from Java, Bali, Papua, Sumatra and etc.

_{Model of a house from Southeast Sulawesi}

Other rooms are dedicated to musical instruments, masks, ceramics, weapons and even to toys and fabrics.

_{Thai Ceramics}

We spent at least two hours inside the museum and we managed to see everything in our own time, which was great.

Location:

Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat (on the west side of Merdeca Square)
Jakarta

Opening times:

From Monday to Thursday: from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Friday: 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Saturdays and Sundays: from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed every Monday and bank holidays.

Price:

10.000,00 Rupees (USD 0.75) for foreigners (adults and children are charged the same price).

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