On May 20, 2011, my classmates and I visited the National Museum of the Republic of Indonesia. This visit has actually been planned since a few weeks ago, but due to various obstacles that suddenly came up, our plan failed numerous times. Finally on Friday the 20th we managed to visit the National Museum of Indonesia.
National Museum of the Republic of Indonesia, or also known as “Museum Gajah” (Elephant Museum) is a museum located in central Jakarta, Jalan Merdeka Barat No. 12.
The National Museum is known as “Museum Gajah” because a bronze statue of an elephant was gifted to Indonesia by King Chulalongkorn from Thailand in 1871. But on May 28, 1979, the name officially became the National Museum of the Republic of Indonesia.Then on 17 September 1962, Indonesia Cultural Institute which manages the National Museum of the Republic of Indonesia, gave the Museum to the government of the Republic of Indonesia. Since then the museum is officially managed by the Directorate General of History and Archaeology, under the Ministry of Education and Culture. But starting in 2005, the National Museum is managed under the management of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. National Museum plays a role as an institution of cultural heritage studies, a cultural center and recreational educational information, has an obligation to save and preserve objects of cultural heritage of Indonesia. Until now managed collections amounted to 141 899 objects, consisting of seven types of collections of prehistoric, archaeological, ceramics, numismtik-heraldry, history, ethnography and geography.
The first thing that caught my attention when we first arrived at the National Museum is the beautiful garden inside the museum. Before the garden, we passed a room that contains a variety of the temples of the Hindu-Buddhist kingdom. I took some pictures with the statue that embodies Suhita, which was the queen of Majapahit who reigned from 1429-1447, with her husband by the name of Parameswara Ratnapangkaja Bhra Hyang.
Suhita and Ratnapangkaja ruled side by side with the title of Bhatara Parameswara. Suhita’s name also appeared in the Chinese chronicles of Sam Po Kong Temple as Su-king-ta, the king of Majapahit who raised Gan Eng Cu as a Chinese community leader in Tuban with the rank of A-lu-ya. Gan Eng Cu’s character is identical with Arya Teja, Sunan Kalijaga’s grandfather. In the year 1437 Bhatara Parameswara Ratnapangkaja died and ten years later, in 1447 Suhita also died. The husband and wife were together templed in Singhajaya. Having no heir, Suhita was replaced by his brother, Dyah Kertawijaya, as the next king.
This statue came from Jebuk, Kalangbret, Tulungagung, East Java and was estimated to come from the second century AD 14-15.
Unfortunately for us, there was a blackout on the day we visited the National Museum of the Republic of Indonesia, so the rooms had gotten very dark in the old building and the darkness made it a little bit too creepy. We moved to the new building of the National Museum of the Republic of Indonesia which is more modern and equipped with generators, so we didn’t have to worry about blackouts.
On the first floor, I found an artifact that I think is very interesting, the remains of an ancient Flores Man. Posters next to them indicate that the discovery of human fossils of Flores is something that shocked the world of archeology because its size is relatively small compared to other human beings who lived in prehistoric times.
Flores Man / Homo floresiensis is a small fossil human or dwarf. The remains that are in the National Museum collection is one of the seven remains of the Flores Man that was a big surprise to world. The remains of the Flores Man is considered as a link between the youngest Homo Erectus, aged between 200,000 to 100,000 years, with the oldest-old Homo sapiens aged between 20,000 to 13,000 years
When the homo floresiensis fossils were first discovered, scientists thought it was the skeleton of a child. It could be because so far there are no records of an ancient human that small. Even the Pygmies in Africa had higher bodies with an average body size of 1.4 to 1.5 meters.
The Mulawarman Inscription that is located on the 2nd floor of the National Museum of the Republic of Indonesia also drew my attention, I took a picture with the incription as well. The Mulawarman Inscription is an inscription found in the kingdom of Kutai. This inscription is one of the seven inscriptions carved on a stone pillar called "Yupa", and is the oldest inscription in Indonesia. It was written in old Pallawa letters and Sanskrit language. The contents of the incription is the family tree of King Mulawarman who is considered to be the greatest king in the Kutai empire. His grandfather, named Kunduńga, his father was named Aśwawarmman and he had three sons. The most famous of the three is the Mūlawarmman. Mentioned in the inscription that Mulawarman held a large celebration feast. It was to commemorate the celebration that the yupa was built by the Brahmins. This inscription was found in Kutai, East Kalimantan and is estimated to originate from the early 5th century AD.
Mulawarman was known to be very wise king. This is based on the story when Mulawarman’s when he gave a charity donation of many cows to the poor. The king had also always held a ceremony to worship the gods. Mulawarman the grandson of Kudungga and son of Asmawarman, as said by experts that it was actually Kudungga who formed the first Kutai kingdom. There is also the opinion o the political aspect of the Kingdom that said that the Kutai kingdom which had its origin in the form of tribal government system / group. But after the arrival of Buddhist Hindu culture in Indonesia, Kutai transformed its system into a system of royal administration. As we all know, later changed its name to the kingdom of Kutai.
Mulawarman was known to be very wise king. This is based on the story when Mulawarman’s when he gave a charity donation of many cows to the poor. The king had also always held a ceremony to worship the gods. Mulawarman the grandson of Kudungga and son of Asmawarman, as said by experts that it was actually Kudungga who formed the first Kutai kingdom. There is also the opinion o the political aspect of the Kingdom that said that the Kutai kingdom which had its origin in the form of tribal government system / group. But after the arrival of Buddhist Hindu culture in Indonesia, Kutai transformed its system into a system of royal administration. As we all know, later changed its name to the kingdom of Kutai.
When we were about to go home from the National Museum of the Republic of Indonesia, I saw an exhibition called "Colour of Uniqueness", which was an exhibition that showed the collaboration of Indonesia and Chinese culture. The exhibition, which lasted for a little over month is a collaboration between the National Museum of the Republic of Indonesia and the Guangxi Museum of Nationalities of China. The exhebition appeared to be very interesting, so I was very curious to see how the artifacts inside were.
This exhibition showed many artifacts in evidence of Indonesian and Chinese cultural collaboration, such as batik fabrics which have golden color elements, and many other examples. I had pictures taken with one of the artifacts that I think is quite interesting, named Garabah Singabarong
Garabah Singabarong has a unique shape with a lion with gaping mouth as its head with open eyes and a heavy hole in his back. These holes are used to store Padasan, ie water for ablution for Muslims.
Garabah Singabarong has a unique shape with a lion with gaping mouth as its head with open eyes and a heavy hole in his back. These holes are used to store Padasan, ie water for ablution for Muslims.
Garabah Sinangbarong is a typical Sitiniwangun ceramic because this form of ceramic can not be found elsewhere. Based on further observation, Sitiniwangun influenced some cultures such as Hinduism and Ruwen tumpal namely motive, namely Bhuddism lotus motif, namely Islam leaf motif and of course the Chinese culture and the rain clouds which donate Megamendung motif that can also be found in batik.
Our visit to the National Museum of the Republic of Indonesia gave us a lot of new knowledge, and indicated to us that museum can also be a fun and unique tourist attraction site. I think that the National Museum has a big a potential to become an attractive tourist place and could become an attraction for Indonesia.Unfortunately, this location is not well maintained and well organized, so it has the impression of quiet and boring. There must be creative ways so that the National Museum re-visited by many people.
