Maritime Museum, Maritime history museum in North Jakarta, Indonesia
The Maritime Museum sits in former Dutch East India Company warehouses near the mouth of the Ciliwung River in North Jakarta and displays traditional vessels and maritime artifacts. The colonial-era buildings now serve as exhibition halls for a collection of historical boats, navigation tools, and fishing equipment from different regions of Indonesia.
The colonial-era warehouses were declared cultural property in 1976 and transformed into a museum that opened to the public in July 1977. The buildings originally date from the time when the Dutch East India Company controlled the port facilities of Batavia and stored goods from across the archipelago.
Models of regional boats like the Pinisi schooners from South Sulawesi or the outrigger canoes from Papua show the variety of Indonesian shipbuilding traditions. Visitors also see replicas of historical navigation instruments used on trade routes between the islands over centuries.
The museum opens from Tuesday through Sunday between 8 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon and sits within walking distance of Jakarta Old Town attractions. The buildings are easily reached by public transport, and visitors can find several small shops and food stalls nearby.
The collection includes scale models of the Onrust Island shipyard where vessels were repaired during colonial times, along with traditional fishing equipment from different coastal regions. Visitors also find nautical charts and navigation instruments that show how Indonesian seafarers traveled the wide seas before modern technology arrived.
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