Inscriptions Museum putting some life into its image

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In an attempt to enliven the gloomy and morbid image of the Inscriptions Museum (Museum Taman Prasasti), the Jakarta Historical Museum management, which also manages Museum Taman Prasasti, held an event called Sound and Light, on Saturday evening.

The usually solemn home of the dead suddenly came alive under the full moon when around 20 guests gathered in a garden party, surrounded by the museum's collection of 1,734 sepulchers.

The guests enjoyed the colorful play of candles and spotlights highlighting the ornate sepulchers. Performers, meanwhile, narrated the history of the museum to the background music of piano and chimes.

The invitees included the Jakarta Museum and Cultural Agency head Nurhadi Sastrapradja, culture attache of the German Embassy Wolfgang Piecha and noted Jakarta historian Adolf Heuken, who has published several definitive works on the city.

The museum head, Tinia Budiati, said the event was held to educate the public on the historical value of the museum and also to attract more visitors.

"We want to show the public that this museum is not a graveyard," she said. "It's a part of the city's history."

The museum will hold a night tour on Aug. 15, where visitors can stroll around the museum's compound. On Aug. 29, it will stage a funeral set in the 18th century.

The museum, which attracts some 3,000 visitors annually, has often been used for music video clips, TV mystery shows and Halloween parties.

Located on Jl. Tanah Abang I, Central Jakarta, the museum was established in 1975 by then governor Ali Sadikin.

Established in 1795, it was a cemetery for Europeans during the Dutch colonial era, then known as Kebon Jahe Kober. Kebon Jahe is the name of the area while "kober" means grave.

Many prominent figures of that period are buried there, including Olivia Marianne Raffles, the wife of the famous British governor general Sir Stamford Raffles. The Englishman wrote the History of Java and established the Bogor Botanical Garden in the early 19th century.

Six Dutch governor generals were also laid to rest in the graveyard.

The graveyard is also the final resting place for some of the country's finest sons, including student activist Soe Hok Gie, who was killed in a climbing accident in 1969.

The museum, meanwhile, also houses the coffin of the nation's founding fathers: Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, although they were not buried there.