Museum Wayang (Shadow Puppet Museum)

Why Museum Wayang (Shadow Puppet Museum) is special ?

Wayang Museum (used to be called as Shadow Puppet Museum as well) is a museum which keeps collections of wayang from various territories inIndonesia and even from other countries.

Wayang Museum Building was constructed at a former old church location, which built by VOC in 1640 with a name of “de oude Hollandsche Kerk”. The church was functioned as a house of worship for Dutch civil and military in Indonesia until 1732. In 1733 the church was renovated and the name was changed to be “de nieuwe Hollandsche Kerk”. The building existed until 1808, until an earthquake broke it making the church could not be occupied anymore. On the location where the church previously stood, a building then constructed, it's the one stands there currently, which initially functioned as a warehouse belonged to Geo Wehry & Co. Initially in 1912, the front side of Wayang Museum was constructed with a Neo Renaissance style, but then in 1938 the whole building was renovated and adjusted to be like Dutch buildings in the colonization time. The open garden of Wayang Museum which located at the former yard of the Holland church was estimated as the funeral of General Governor Jan Peiterszoon Coen.

On 7th November, 2003, the United Nation recognized Indonesian wayang as the world heritage of masterpiece creation. Hence, if you visit Jakarta you should put Wayang Museum in one of interesting places list that you must visit.

Source: indonesia-travel-guide.com

What to explore at Museum Wayang (Shadow Puppet Museum)?

The collections of Wayang Museum are very various, in both small and big size. Wayang Museum collects Indonesian leather wayangs, like Kedu, Tejokusuman, Ngabean, Surakarta, Banyumas, Cirebon, Gedog, Sadat, Madia Krucil, Sasak, Kaper, Wahyu, Kijang Kencana, Ukur, Suluh, Klitik, and Beber. Wayang Museum has collections of scarce wayang as well like Intan wayang, Suket, Beber and Revolusi. Besides, Wayang Museum also has some collections of wooden wayang like Catur, Cepak Cirebon, Kebumen, Pekalongan, Bandung, Gundala-Gundala from Tanah Karo, and Si Gale-Gale from Tanah Batak. There are collections of mask which were sourced from Cirebon, Bali, and Center Java. Some other stuffs are also displayed in Wayang Museum, like gamelan, Blencong lamp, glass wayang, zinc wayang, and paintings. There’re some collections that sourced from abroad, some of them are from Kelantan, Malaysia, Suriname, France, Cambodia, and Thailand.

Source: indonesia-travel-guide

How to get to Museum Wayang (Shadow Puppet Museum)?

To reach Wayang Museum you could ride a taxi or public transportation, like busway. If you choose to ride busway, please ride the first corridor busway with Blok M to Kota Tua route. You need to get off at the Kota Tua Terminal (Old City Terminal) which is the last terminal where the busway will stop before go back to Blok M. You could reach Wayang Museum by walk from the terminal, since the distance is only about 300 meters, or you could ride a bicycle which local people call as bicycleojek.

Source: indonesia-travel-guide