National Museum of Indonesia — Attraction in Jakarta

Excellent museum that has wonderful collection of sculpture from 8th century onwards reflecting the hindu and buddhism times alongwith few original cranium fossils of ancient mammals that roamed on this side of the planet.The rest of the exhibitions on first floor is information or descriptions and some of them are closed as of Jun 5th.There are few galleries opened on 2nd and 3rd floor with modern Islamic art and independence struggles from the european colonialism.The most beautiful part is the stone sculpture carvings in the form of bhikshatana shiva with three heads of creation,survival and destruction,humble mahakaala or time holding knife of death,proud expression of Nairuthi as astadikpala,the spiritual teacher agasthya with his followers from the ancient hindu scriptures,Yama with his asymmetric facial features reflecting the south indians,unique carvings of brahma and vishnu riding on their vehicles swan and garuda,several unique carving of shiva and parvathi as durga or mahisasura mardhini,lively facial features of Agni to cleanup the planet,the expression of kumara swamy sitting on peacock with fading away stone,immortal kaala bairava with bigger than life size standing on apasmara or ignorance supported by skull pedestal,lively and colorful statue of 15th century queen in Cambodian dress style,unique and rare sun and moon gods sitting in meditative posture with calm expression,rare love god kama riding on parrot the symbol of eternity,excellently carved kubera with mutilated face carrying the wealth in pots,unique carving of 15th century hindu king with facial features of Burmese or Cambodian?, simple vishnu sitting on head of humble snake reflecting anantha sheyanam,several excellent carvings of durga and mahisasura mardhini,lively carvings of hari hara with half vishnu and half shiva,unique carving of fat guardian Haya greeva to the imaginary world of buddhism heaven,rare and perfect carving of brukthi,the goddess of wisdom in buddhism,unique and decorated ornaments of parvathi in 15th century Cambodian dress style,slightly mutilated facial expressions of Rathi Manmada reflecting the symbolic love of male and female,smiling expression of vishnu? though claimed wrongly as ardha nariswara,uniquely carved makaram or crocodiles reliefs ready to swallow the human worker,the scary dwara palakas or door guardians and finally the peaceful expression of padmapani buddha and few more in bhumi sparsha and abhaya mudra postures is a wonder left by the ancient kingdoms to lookback on what sort of people and their facial features who lived here from Anthropology perspective and hence makes it must visit attraction for historians and Archeologists.It also reminds us the patterns of migration first from south India before 7th century directly from the boats on sea and later in 15th century cycle of hindu kingdoms from the Myanmar or Cambodia through the land connectivity with little hops on Islands along the way...

Mostly empty, lacking structure, route, or an overarching theme.

For a national museum, I expected a lot more. Let's ignore the discriminatory double pricing for foreigners - at least it's just x2 in this case. The museum unfortunately fails in many aspects. The Buddhist and Hindu statues are amazing artefacts but the descriptions lack any indication of their significance or how they connect between one another. There is no order either - it seems like they were haphazardly put in the garden without a route, without a chain/link to show you what role they played together in the life of the ancient Javanese. Inside, the museum is even more disappointing - huge halls left mostly empty, with little thought put into the message the exhibits send. A map of Indonesia with it's many peoples, then prehistoric skulls, then food and spices (?!?)... The museum boasts nearly 200.000 exhibits - where are they? In the halls, one can see barely 300. With such layered history and so much to describe and talk about, all the Indonesian national museum can offer is a few statues and 3 prehistoric skulls. Hire a new curator, please.

The AI facial recognition is tacky, paid, and doesn't fit at all inside the museum - feels like a poor attempt at another cash grab. It also takes most of the otherwise empty hall, which has a total of 7 masks. As much as these are interesting and well-preserved, just 7 in a hall of about 2500 sq.m. is pathetic.

With so little to see and learn, the museum also has the audacity to offer additional paid exhibitions... Thanks, but after feeling like I threw 50k down the drain, I'd rather not.

Moreover, people inside generally have no regard for others, speak loudly, take pictures as if it's the red carpet and the museum staff doesn't care.

If you decide to go, drop your expectations tenfold. Then, perhaps, you may find...

The museum is somewhat accessible to those with disabilities. There's a good ramp out front, and some ramps elsewhere. However there's a special exhibit area you cannot get to unless you can take stairs. Getting to the canteen requires taking the stairs or going down a very fast escalator. There might be an elevator somewhere - but if there was, it was far away.

The canteen is tiny and has very limited selections. Basically it's a snack shop, not a place to buy a meal. I don't recall seeing an accessible restroom but there must be at least one somewhere.

There weren't many places to sit, and all the available seating was hard, backless benches. We made the mistake of going to the Imersifa show. The photo showed benches for seating, but when we got inside - no seating. Sit on the floor. Very difficult and painful for those of us with arthritis. I hurt myself getting down and up.

We were there on a weekday, so there were schoolchildren there with us. It was impossible to hear anything because they were so noisy and kept shrieking. It was so bad even my friend had to cover her ears at times. Teachers and parents did nothing to stop this.

Everywhere we went, we could not escape the students, who were so loud and out of control. It was difficult to enjoy the exhibits.

I understand there was a fire recently, and they are working hard to recover. It explains why there was lots of space and closed areas. I wish the staff well in their recovery efforts.

It was great to be able to get right up to some of the artifacts, which is not the case in most museums. It could be a good place for those who are blind who want to have a tactile visit.

My thanks to the staff who offered me a chair while I waited for my friend to get the tickets. I appreciated this. You can also be dropped off directly in front of the entrance which is...