The forerunner of the Jakarta Maritime Museum started in the Dutch colonial era. It was built for storage of key commodities such as spices, coffee, tin and copper in 1652. The building of the Museum is fairly strong in its era known to be able to withstand tropical storms. After the Dutch were successfully expelled from Sunda Kelapa, the museum building was transformed into a logistics warehouse for the Japanese army. After Indonesia's independence, the Museum building was once used as a warehouse for the needs of the National Electric Company. In 1976 the Indonesian government agreed to overhaul all building buildings into cultural heritage. Just one year apart, this building was then inaugurated as the Indonesian Maritime Museum precisely on July 7, 1977.

Like other famous museums around the world, the Jakarta Maritime Museum has quite a large collection. Not only exhibiting miniature forms, but also the original shape is also displayed to be a historical fact. Inside this museum there are folklore and poems often sung by archipelago fishermen at that time. The most interesting thing about this antique museum is the display of various sailing boat models along with other boat equipment. You can also see navigation tools that are still complete with compasses, binoculars and anchor ships at that time and continue to be preserved. There are also miniature lighthouses accompanied by islands or trade routes that once colored Sunda Kelapa. You are not allowed to damage the items in this museum. In addition to 19 original and replica boats, visitors can also see exhibitions of TNI AL, cartography collections, and there is also a collection of Onrust island models. Inside this museum there are at most paintings, photographs and all kinds of boat shapes. There are many things that you can see here although some of them have been damaged due to fire incidents. After visiting the room of the miniature collection of the Indonesian Navy's collection, the most historic parts are the defense of the National maritime empire to the invaders. The invaders in the maritime sector were big kingdoms in Indonesia, including the kingdom of Samudera Pasai and Sriwijaya. Besides being able to see the equipment used for sailing, visitors can also see the maritime weaponry tools. There is also the weaponry of the Sunda Kelapa fighters and maritime royal warriors in this museum. Seeing a complete collection of cannons and traditional weapons here, it's clear how prosperous Sunda Kelapa at that time. All interesting informations about Indonesia maritime history is here.