The Wayang Museum () is a museum dedicated to wayang puppetry. The museum is located in Kota Tua, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is one of several museums and galleries facing Fatahillah Square, which include the Jakarta History Museum, Fine Art and Ceramic Museum, and Kota Post Office art gallery.[Kuoni - Far East, A world of difference. Page 93. Published 1999 by Kuoni Travel & JPM Publications]
History
The museum building occupies the site of a church which was built in 1640, under the name of the Old Dutch Church ().
[Suswantoro, Ani, "Wayang Museum: Of heroes and grand tales", The Jakarta Postl, June 27, 2014] In 1732, the church was renovated and the name was changed to the New Dutch Church (). In 1808, an earthquake destroyed the church.
Later in 1912, a building was constructed in the Neo-Renaissance style on the site, which initially functioned as a warehouse belonging to Geo Wehry & Co. In 1938, the building was renovated, following Dutch colonial architecture. The garden of the Wayang Museum, located on the former yard of the Dutch church, was the funeral site of General Governor Jan Pieterszoon Coen.
Later, the building was bought by the Batavia Society of Arts and Sciences (), an institution dealing with Indonesian culture and science. The institution then transferred this building to the Old Batavia Foundation () and on December 22, 1939, it was made a museum under the name of Old Batavia Museum (). In 1957, after the independence of Indonesia, the building was transferred to the Institute of Indonesian Culture () and on September 17, 1962, to the Ministry of Education and Culture. On June 23, 1968, the DKI Jakarta Administration made the building into the Wayang Museum; the inauguration took place on August 13, 1975.
Collections
The museum has a collection of various kinds of
wayang, such as the
Javanese people wayang kulit and
Sundanese people wayang golek. Inside the museum is the plate marking the tombstone of Jan Pieterszoon Coen.
[See also Imogiri 'Role and Importance' section for where folklore attributes a place in the Imogiri graveyard where the remains were transferred to in the 1600s] A wayang theater and a workshop on wayang-making are periodically organised in the
museum.
External links
