Inscriptions Museum putting some life into its image

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.