Museum Gajah, the National Museum

At the west side of Merdeka Square, where the National Monument (Monas) is located, we can see a relatively old building popularly known as Museum Gajah (Elephant). It is so called because in its front yard there is an elephant statue easily seen from the street. 

This National Museum was built in 1862 by the Dutch Governor-General JCM Radermacher in line with the colonial government policy aimed at reviewing the scientific research in the Netherlands Indies. At present, the management of the museum is handled under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. 

As an institution of a cultural and educational information center, it has been established to save and preserve objects of Indonesian cultural heritage. Until now the collections amounted to around 142,000 objects,  consisting of seven types of collections of prehistoric, archaeological, ceramics, numismatic, heraldry, history, ethnography, and geography, makes this museum is known as the most comprehensive one in Indonesia.

Rescue and preservation of this culture are informed to the general public through exhibitions and publishing catalogs, brochures, audiovisual website as well. The goal is that people know and participate in the preservation of national heritage. 

In general, the museum is divided into three main buildings (A, B, C), the front garden area where there are statues of elephants donated by a king of Thailand in 1871, a large anchor and the hall area connecting Building A and Building B. Exhibitions are arranged at the old building (Unit A) based on the types of collections, whether based on science, materials, or regionalism. 

As the exhibition space prehistory, the Bronze Room, Room Textiles, Ethnographic Space Sumatra area, and others. While the arrangement of the exhibition at the new building (Building Unit B or statue) is no longer based on the type collection but rather lead to a theme based on aspects of human culture of which is positioned as actors in the neighborhood. Unit C Building is planned to be built to expand the existing exhibition layout. 

Until now the collections amounted to around 142,000 objects,  consisting of seven types of collections of prehistoric, archaeological, ceramics, numismatic, heraldry, history, ethnography, and geography, makes this museum is known as the most comprehensive one in Indonesia. The museum collects many antiquities from any parts of Indonesia in the form of ancient statues and objects, craft items and inscriptions. Collections are categorized into the ethnography, bronze, prehistoric, ceramics, textiles, numismatic, historical relics, and precious objects. Prior to the establishment of the National Library at Jalan Salemba, Central Jakarta, the museum collection also included ancient manuscripts which are now kept in the Library.

Sources of the collection came from archaeological excavations, grants collector since the days of the Dutch East Indies and purchases. Collections of ceramics and ethnographic articles represented most comprehensive in the world. This museum is the first and largest museum in Southeast Asia. 

An interesting collection is the tallest statue of Bhairawa with a height of 4 meters. This is a manifestation of the god Lokeswara, which is the manifestation of Boddhisatwa (radiance of Buddha) on the earth. This statue of a man, standing on the corpses and rows of skulls and holding a skull cup in his left hand and a short dagger with his right hand of the Arab style, was found in Roco, Padang, West Sumatra. This statue is estimated to come from century 13-14. 

The oldest collection of Buddha statue in the museum is Dipangkara, made of bronze and stored in a bronze room in a separate glass case. Such condition is contrary to Buddha-Hindu statue of the oldest in the archipelago, namely Vishnu Cibuaya (about 4M) which is just located in the stone-made statue room, almost neglected with no text, labels and is hindered by the statue of Ganesha from the Banon temple.

Unfortunately, conservation efforts to conserve collections mainly the collection of papers that need careful handling are not properly done. Often, the collection is removed and replaced with artificial materials. Although this reduces the authenticity, still it is considered that the aesthetics and form of the original works conserved.  Such an action shows the attitude of most museums in the region to prioritize restoration rather than keeping their authenticities. It seems that the amount of collections and the employees who handle them is disproportionate. The museum management should give more attention to improve this condition