Culture Minister Advocates for Strengthening Museums as Cultural and Educational Centres
Jakarta — Indonesia’s Culture Minister Fadli Zon has called for strengthening the role of museums as comfortable public spaces whilst serving as centres of culture, education, and various cultural activities.
“Museums must be positioned as an important part of a living and active cultural ecosystem within society,” said the Culture Minister whilst inaugurating environmental improvements at the Adityawarman Museum in Padang, West Sumatra on Friday.
The inauguration marked the completion of an integrated boundary fence for the museum grounds to support a more organised and comfortable public space function.
“This is part of a programme to transform museums into comfortable ecosystems, cultural and educational centres, and various activities that can be conducted at museums,” Fadli explained.
According to him, support for the Adityawarman Museum has also been provided through Special Allocation Funds from the Culture Ministry for non-physical activities such as exhibitions, cultural performances, and museum activation programmes.
He emphasised the improvement of professional museum management standards, ranging from strengthening exhibition narratives, curation, lighting, material selection, typography, language use, to the utilisation of digital technology to make visitor experiences more interactive.
The Adityawarman Museum currently holds more than 6,000 artefacts covering ethnography, archaeology, numismatics, philology, and traditional fine arts. These collections showcase Minangkabau cultural heritage including traditional clothing, musical instruments, household equipment, and traditional weapons.
Beyond collections storage, the museum also hosts thematic exhibitions, traditional art workshops, and musical and dance performances to support the preservation of regional culture.
On the occasion, Fadli also distributed sets of prayer equipment to communities affected by disasters in Padang.
The inauguration was attended by Padang Mayor Fadly Amran and the Head of the Cultural Office of West Sumatra Province Syaiful Bahri.