Historical Museums You Can Visit During Your Walks in the Jakarta Old Town
The most iconic place to visit during your stay in Jakarta to learn about the history of the city is the Jakarta Old Town area. You can find many historical buildings there, including museums. One of the museums that holds the most impactful historical value is the Fatahillah Museum, the building that stands behind the Fatahillah Square, the white building with many windows. Alongside the Fatahillah Museums, there is also a Puppet Museum or “Wayang Museum” that is located nearby. You can learn more about the culture of Indonesian in this museum.
A Brief History of Museum Wayang That Has Been Standing in the Jakarta Old Town Area for Hundreds of Years
The previous building of the museum is originally a church that was built in the year of 1640 in the Dutch colonial era when Jakarta was still called as “Batavia”. The church name was De Oude Hollandsche Kerk and changed to De Nieuwe Hollandse Kerk in the year 1808. The church was ruined due to an earthquake, and a new building was built at the same location, which is the Puppet Museum. It is inaugurated as a museum on August 13th, 1975.
Things You Can See and What You Can Learn inside the Historical Museum of Old Batavia
Based on the name, you can tell that this museum has a collection of “Wayang”. Wayang is a special kind of “puppet” that has a distinctive feature. It is usually made from cow skin, and a puppeteer or known as “dalang” will operate a show where they control the movements of wayangs in a wide background that reflecting shadows. The show is also called wayang or wayang show. As it is originally come from Javanese community, the show is usually using Javanese language. However, there are also different types of wayang aside from Javanese wayang, so the museum housed various types of wayang from all over Indonesia, even from abroad such as Europe Countries, Republic of China and Cambodia.
See Various Types of Wayang by Visiting the Puppet Museum in Jakarta Old Batavia Tour
To explore and learn more about what is inside the museum, come visit Jakarta and the historical museum to see for yourself. Join us on our Jakarta Old Batavia Tour and we will take you to find out what the city has to offer. See you around!