History of National Museum

National Museum of the Republic of Indonesia is one manifestation of European influence, especially the spirit of the Enlightenment, which emerged at about the 18th century. This building was built in 1862 by the Dutch Government under Governor-General JCM Radermacher in response to the association Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen which aims to examine the scientific research in the Netherlands East Indies. The museum was inaugurated in 1868, but the institutional forerunner of this museum was born in 1778, precisely on 24 April, at the time of formation Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen by the Dutch government. Radermacher donate a building located at Jalan Kalibesar along with a collection of books and cultural objects that form the basis for the establishment of the museum.
In the period of British rule under the leadership of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1811-1816), who also serves as Director of Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen ordered the construction of a new building located on Jalan Majapahit No. 3. This building was used as a museum and meeting rooms for the Literary Society (formerly named "Societeit de Harmonie.") This building is now in the State Secretariat complex.
In 1862, after meeting the museum's collection at Jalan Majapahit, the Dutch East Indies government established a new building located at Jalan Merdeka No.12 West. This building was opened to the public in 1868.
The National Museum is known as Museum Gajah since dihadiahkannya bronze elephant sculpture by King Chulalongkorn from Thailand in 1871. But on May 28, 1979, the name officially became the National Museum of the Republic of Indonesia. Then on September 17, 1962, Indonesia's cultural institutions to manage it, gave the Museum to the government of the Republic of Indonesia. Since then the official museum management by the Directorate General of History and Archaeology, under the Ministry of Education and Culture. But starting in 2005, the National Museum under the management of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Notes on the website of the National Museum of the Republic of Indonesia in 2001 showed that the collection had reached 109,342 units. The number of collections that make this museum is known as the most comprehensive in Indonesia. In 2006 the number of fruit collection has already exceeded 140,000, but only a third that can be disclosed to the public.
The museum is located at Jalan Merdeka Barat.