Indonesia‘s Shadow Puppet Theater is well known as a part of local tradition with very long history. Every tribe in different regions in Indonesia has their own kind of puppet, we call it ‘wayang’. As a traveler, you might need to go all over the place to know deeply about various kind of wayang in Indonesia. But, for a glimpse? You should visit Wayang Museum Jakarta, because they have it all.
The Wayang Museum Jakarta is located in Jakarta Old Town area (Kota Tua), West Jakarta. It opens from 9 am to 3 pm with IDR 5 k entrance ticket per person. The Wayang Museum Jakarta open almost every day except for Monday and any of Indonesia’s national holidays, because museum’s maintenance should be done once a week.
For foreigner who want to hear wonderful story about Indonesia’s shadow puppets, Wayang Museum Jakarta can provide you a free tour guide who knows very well about their wayang collections. I recommend you all to ask about that tour guide service in Wayang Museum Jakarta front desk, it is really worth it. The tour guide will explain to you about background stories of some play in wayang show, how to make wayang, and everything you need to know about wayang. Make sure you do not miss that free service in Wayang Museum Jakarta.
Beside various kind of local puppet shadows collection, Wayang Museum Jakarta also displays numerous dolls from countries like India, France, Cambodia, China, Germany, et cetera. It seems like puppet culture is a global culture that spread around the world.
Since 2007, Indonesian Wayang recognized as the world heritage of masterpiece creation by United Nation. So, I think Wayang Museum Jakarta should be a very interesting place to visit while you take a city tour Jakarta, right? 😀