Study center to be established at Jakarta Historical Museum

Study center to be established at Jakarta Historical Museum

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Historical Museum will have a study
center for Jakarta history, an official said on Saturday.

The museum director, Tinia Budiati, said the center is
expected to become the place for research activities, including
library and archive searches on city history.

"Data on Jakarta history has been so spread out in different
places that those who need access, must go to several
institutions. It is expected that through the study center,
people will find any material they need under one roof," she
said.

Tinia said the project would involve other institutions. She
did know when construction would begin, because the center is
still in the planning stage.

"What is clear is that many kinds of learning activities can
be held here like discussions, research, seminars and data
collection," she said, adding that through the center, the museum
library -- which now has about 2,000 old books -- would also be
revitalized.

She said the center is expected to be able to meet the
people's demand to uncover Jakarta history that remains unknown
until now.

The existence of a historical museum in the city with
management always complaining about the lack of visitors was not
popular among the residents.

Consequently, the city museum and restoration agency recently
organized several activities to revive the seven museums under
its auspices, including the Jakarta Historical Museum, namely,
exhibitions, festivals and competitions.

Earlier, Tinia hinted last week that the city administration,
in cooperation with Amsterdam-based Tropenmuseum, will hold a
series of training programs on museum management for employees of
city-owned museums starting in the middle of this year.

She said the programs would last three years, including
special programs that will be conducted in the Netherlands for
selected trainees.

"The training will be held in two stages and will focus on
conservation and museum collection management. At the end of the
project several selected trainees will undergo further training
in the Netherlands for another eight to 10 months.

Tinia, who is involved in the project planning, said each of
the city's seven museums would select three of the staff members
for the programs.

"Hopefully, the project can start in October following a
survey conducted by the Tropenmuseum experts in May and June,"
she said.

There are seven museums under the auspices of the city
administration. Three of them are in Central Jakarta, the Textile
Museum, the 1945 Fight for Freedom Museum and the Memorial Park
Museum.

Two museums are in North Jakarta: the Maritime Museum and the
Puppet Museum. While in West Jakarta, there are the Fine Art and
Ceramic Museum and the Jakarta Historical Museum. (ind)