Museum reshuffles history to tell a better tale
Museum reshuffles history to tell a better tale
Ida Indawati Khouw, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A big city like Jakarta should have a museum with a complete
collection to enable its citizens to learn about the city's
history. But the Jakarta Historical Museum in West Jakarta has
failed to meet that need.
"I want Jakartans visiting the museum to get the whole picture
of their city. I want them to say 'now I know the city's history'
when they step out of the museum," said the museum director Tinia
Budiati after the opening of the exhibition of the museum's new
collections recently.
Previously, the museum was not arranged in such a way so that
it reflected the city's history. It did not portray the complete
story of Jakarta.
"There were collections which had no connection with Jakarta's
history displayed here including a relief of Borobudur temple in
Central Java," said archeologist Hasan Djafar of the University
of Indonesia, referring to the relief that used to be located in
the Tarumanegara Period room.
Hasan was involved in the rearrangement of the museum lay out.
As of Oct. 31, the two-story museum's displays were
redesigned.
"It's a huge task to rearrange around 30 rooms which will last
for decades. Our first phase is to complete the first four
rooms," said Tinia, referring to the Jakarta Today, Prehistory of
the Greater Jakarta, the Tarumanagara (kingdom) Period I and the
Tarumanagara Period II rooms.
Hasan said in the future all rooms would be divided based on
periods from Jakarta's history: the Sunda Kingdom, the
Portuguese, the introduction of Islam, Jayakarta Kingdom, the
Dutch Era and the Republic of Indonesia Era.
The Jakarta Today room contains mostly photographs. They show
the past and present of Jakarta including old maps of the city
(formerly known as Batavia) during the early establishment of the
old castle in 1619. They also display the multiethnic society of
the 18th and 19th centuries, the conditions in the city in the
20th century up to present time with its high-rise buildings and
chaotic transportation system.
"Sometimes people ignore the details of life in a metropolitan
city. We aim to make visitors aware of it," said Hasan.
With only photographs hanging on the wall, Tinia said:
"Everyone would probably hope for something great like in the
famous museums in Europe. But we can only use what is available
due to our limitations."
Next to the Jakarta Today room is the Prehistory of Greater
Jakarta room where the actual history begins. There are some
valuable artifacts, some of them in the form of small stone
pieces.
"In terms of history and archeology, these pieces are
important as they depict activities of the past. They are part of
the stone tools used in daily life like adzes and axes," Hasan
said.
The artifacts have been dated back to 3000 B.C. along with
prehistoric remains from the neolithic stage -- the period when
man had settled in Greater Jakarta and started farming. Other
objects are from the period of the earthenware culture and
bronze-iron age.
"Greater Jakarta has about 100 archeological sites which can
still be excavated for other discoveries. The last excavation
project took place in the 1980s," said Hasan.
The Tarumanagara Period I displays replicas of stone epigraphs
(in Sanskrit) of Kebon Kopi I, Ciaruteun and Munjul, referring to
the places where they were found. The three inscribed stones are
part of the seven precious stones of the Tarumanagara Kingdom
that reigned in an area that included Greater Jakarta in the
fifth to seventh century.
An original statue of elephant-god Ganesh, whose height is
only 58 centimeters, is located in the Tarumanagara Period II.
The statue of Ganesh, known as the god of knowledge, was found in
the Warung Buncit area, South Jakarta, in 1990.
There were actually five statues found in the Greater Jakarta
area. They are now being preserved at the National Museum in
Central Jakarta.
"The Jakarta Historical Museum deserves to have original
pieces, especially those found in the Greater Jakarta area,"
Hasan asserted.