7 Special Things You Must Know About the Elephant Museum. Check it out!
Photo by Hardingferrent on Unsplash
Jakarta is known for its traffic jams and for its many museums that preserve the history of Indonesian heritage. One notable example is the Gajah Museum, located at Jl. Merdeka Barat 12, Central Jakarta. Although named after the elephant (gajah), the museum's collections do not relate to elephants. So, what makes this museum special?
Photo by ANNIE HATUANH on Unsplash
1. The Gajah Museum was named after an elephant statue gifted by King Chulalongkorn of Thailand in 1871, which became the museum’s icon. However, it is now officially called the National Museum.
2. This museum was previously known as the Arca Building (arca: statue) due to its extensive collection of statues from various past kingdoms.
3. The museum building is designed in a classical style, inspired by European architecture from the 18th century.
4. The National Museum is Southeast Asia's first and largest museum.
5. Initially, the National Museum was merely a building containing books and cultural artifacts collected by J.C.M. Radermacher, the chairman of the Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen.
6. The prehistoric heritage exhibits throughout the museum narrate the story of Indonesia’s ancient civilizations.
7. The National Museum boasts a total collection of over 140,000 objects, categorized into seven groups: Prehistoric, Archeology, Ceramic, Numismatic & Heraldic, History, Ethnography, and Geography.
