Revisiting and Exploring the Museum of Memorial Stone Park After 17 Years

Hello, Hive people! It's been a month since my last post. Today I'm gonna share a little story about my visit to a museum in my town called Museum Taman Prasasti (Museum of Memorial Stone Park or Inscription Museum), located in Jakarta. Actually this is my 3rd visit to that museum. And this is my first post in Urban Exploration. I hope this post is suitable for the community.

It Began from My Childhood Curiosity

When I was in elementary school, I was always curious about the old Dutch cemetery which is located right next to the KONI (Indonesian National Sports Committee) building, where me and my classmates learned to swim. Whenever I was outside the building, I was attracted by the European-style headstones and statues seen from between the iron fences. At that moment, I wanted to take a closer look. But because I didn't want to miss the group, I could only watch from afar.

At first, I thought it was an active graveyard. It turned out to be a museum. I wondered when would my teacher take us there. But it never happened.

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The Graveyard that became a Museum

History says that the place used to be a real cemetery for Dutch nobles, named Kebon Jahe Kober (Kober in Javanese means graveyard), which was built during the Dutch colonial period in 1795. After Indonesia's independence in 1945, the cemetery was used as a Christian cemetery.

In 1975, the cemetery was closed due to the construction of the Central Jakarta Mayoralty Office, located right on the right side of it (the KONI building is on the left side). Due to the local government request, the corpses that were there were removed by their relatives. Some of them were transferred to different cemeteries.

During the construction of the building and the removal of the corpses, several tombstones and statues were damaged (too bad! 😓). The cemetery area was also reduced, from 5.9 ha to only 1.3 ha, and only 1,372 tombstones are preserved of the 4,200 inscriptions.

In 1977, the Kebon Jahe Kober cemetery was turned into a museum, which was named the Museum Taman Prasasti (Indonesian for Museum of Memorial Stone Park or Inscription Museum).

The museum houses a collection of various tombstones, statues, and monuments—original or replicas—of important people in the Dutch colonial era, such as J.J. Pierrie, Commander of the Dutch East Indies War; Dr.H.F.Roll, founder of the Stovia Dutch East Indies School of Medicine; and many more.

Not only are there tombs of important people, but there are also gravestones of children and statues depicting sad stories, such as a mothers who lost her child, a woman who lost her husband when they just got married, etc.

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My first and second visit

The first time I visited this museum was in 2005. Finally, my childhood curiosity to enter this place was fulfilled. I went there alone, and was excited to explore the place and take some photos.

One year later, I visited the museum again with some friends. At that time, we did a gothic themed photo session. So predictable, huh? 😁

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Revisit the museum in 2022

Last week, I revisited the museum again with my hubby. I noticed that the place had changed significantly. Now the place looks better than the last time I was there; it is neater, more organized, and more tourist-friendly.

Some of the facilities were renewed, such as walking paths, benches, and a prayer room. Several trees were cut down to lighten the area, and the rusty iron was repainted.

There are some additional items that were not there before, such as a funeral parlor and the coffins that were used to carry the bodies of Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta, the first president and vice president of Indonesia.

I also think that there are tombstones and statues that have changed places. I wasn’t really sure. So when I got home, I checked the old photos I that took when I visited there 17 years ago. It just so happens that I took some photos of the same object and place. Here are a few of the comparison.

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I hope you enjoy the photos and the story. Thanks for dropping by. Have a nice day!

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All pictures are mine, taken with Redmi Note 10s
History source: Wikipedia