Mega inaugurates National Museum

JAKARTA: President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Wednesday inaugurated the refurbished National Museum, which is better known as Museum Gajah (Elephant Museum).

The new complex comprises three buildings, two of which were built in 2001. The main building was constructed in 1817.

The museum will now occupy some 76,000 square meters of land, compared to the previous 8,000 square meters.

The museum is called Museum Gajah because of the elephant statue situated in front of the compound, which was a present from Thai King Chulalongkorn, who visited the museum in 1871.-- JP