While visiting Kota Tua, you have to check out the museums around the area! Explore Indonesia’s heritage and history all in one place here, you’ll be able to find different museums that tell the history of what makes Jakarta today! Plus, most of the admission fee is either free or really cheap! Without further ado, here are some of the museums in Kota Tua you must visit!
Bank Indonesia Museum
Learn the history of Indonesia’s economy and banking world here! The building is grand as it’s used to issue the Netherlands Indies’ Gulden in 1828 known as “De Javasche Bank (The Java Bank). Before it was turned into De Javasche Bank, the building used to be a hospital called Binnen Hospital. In 1953, the bank is nationalized into Bank Sentral Indonesia before it’s known as Bank Indonesia.
Address: Jalan Pintu Besar Utara Nomor 3, Pinangsia, Tamansari, Jakarta Barat
Operating hours: 8:00 AM – 3:30 PM (Tuesday to Friday), 8 AM – 4 PM (Weekend)
Admission fee: Rp. 5,000 / person (adult), students or children below 3 years old enter for free
Bank Mandiri Museum
Right beside Bank Indonesia Museum is Bank Mandiri Museum. If you have learned about the history of economy and banking in the Bank Indonesia Museum, then you’ll be able to see the evolution of banking from the 19th century to the early 20th here along with the tools and supplies that were used. There are operating supplies, coins, cashiers, ATMs, safe deposits, and other things you might find in a bank back then.
Address: Jalan Lapangan Stasiun Nomor 1, Pinangsia, Tamansari, Jakarta Barat
Operating hours: 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM (Tuesday to Sunday)
Admission fee: Rp. 5,000/person
Museum Fatahillah / The Jakarta History Museum
The icon of Kota Tua is this building, which served as a town hall in the colonial era in the 17th century. Now, it serves as a historical site and museum that displays the history of Jakarta with artifacts since the time that Jakarta was Sunda Kelapa. The museum is also known as Museum Batavia, as there is some furniture from the colonial era and also the menacing underground prison in which Indonesians were used to be tortured and confined by the colonizers.
Address: Jalan Taman Fatahillah Nomor 1, Pinangsia, Tamansari, Jakarta Barat
Operating hours: 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM (Everyday)
Admission fee: Rp. 5,000/person (adult), Rp. 3,000 (college students), Rp. 2,000 (students and children)
The Wayang Museum
If you are curious about the history of Wayang and the different versions of it from all corners of Indonesia and perhaps other countries like Burma, Thailand, and China, then you have to visit the Wayang Museum. The building dates back to 1640, as it was once the Old Dutch Church and was opened in 1975. There’s a garden where the founder of Batavia, Governor-General Jan Pieterszoon Coen was buried.
Address: Jalan Lada Nomor 23, Pinangsia, Tamansari, Jakarta Barat
Operating hours: 9 AM – 3 PM (Tuesday to Friday), 9 AM – 8 PM (Weekends)
Admission fee: Rp 5,000/person
The Fine Arts and Ceramic Museum
Right beside the Fatahillah Museum, this museum displays arts by Indonesian artists throughout the year. You’ll be able to find paintings, and ceramics from the 1800s up to now. This building had gone through several changes, serving as a Court of Justice in the Netherlands East Indies in 1870 to a military barracks and logistics warehouse after independence. Then it was used to be a Mayor’s Office for West Jakarta in 1967 then an office for the Jakarta Museum and the History Department in 1974 before eventually inaugurated into a museum in 1990.
Address: Jalan Pos Kota, Jakarta Barat
Operating hours: 8 AM – 3 PM (Tuesday to Sunday)
Admission fee: Rp 5,000 (adult), Rp 3,000 (college students), Rp 2,000 (students and children)
Get a full day trip to Kota Tua to explore and know more about Indonesia’s history through these museums. Which one of these museums interests you the most? If you want more guides about Jakarta, make sure to check us out here!
